SCE&G's V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant, located about 30 miles north of Columbia near Jenkinsville, has 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Photo courtesy of SCANACorp.

Every informed American visitor to France or Belgium ends up envying the cheap electric power coming out of their nuclear plants. It's clean and reliable. How did America miss the boat? America tried to make it and failed miserably in a few notorious circumstances.

In June 1983, the Washington State Supreme Court set the stage for America's largest default, $2.25 billion in debt for the construction of nuclear power plants no longer needed. In January 1984, the Public Service Commission of Indiana halted construction of two Marble Hill reactors despite a $2.5 billion investment. About the same time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Commonwealth Edison of Chicago not to operate its $4.2 billion Byron nuclear plants due to safety problems. Also in 1984, Long Island Lighting Company's Shoreham nuclear plant was approaching cost overruns 15 times original estimates. A share of stock in LILCO, otherwise known as "widows' and orphans' stock," fell that year from $16 to $4.

Nuclear power plants in the US picked up a bad reputation a quarter-century ago and lost out in favor of coal, gas, and other sources of power for electric generators. Duke Power dropped its Cherokee County plans for a new nuclear plant 23 years ago.

Now, at the same site, the same company announced last week it is planning a new nuclear power plant, this time in partnership with Southern of Atlanta. Southern has always been headquartered in Atlanta, never Birmingham, where the local daily put it.

This time Duke thinks it has costs under control, planning to spend between $4 billion and $6 billion in today's dollars. But before it can build, Duke must convince SC regulators it's not running with rosy projections of future demands for power.

Also talking new nuclear power plants is Columbia's SCANA and Raleigh's Progress Energy. For now, in the present regulatory environment, Duke can

sell wholesale electric power to Southern and wheel it through SCANA lines for a regulated fee. So if Duke finishes its next generation of nuclear plants first, Duke can wheel its new-found bulk-rate electric power to the other utilities at a volume discount while SCANA and Progress get their new nukes on line.

The SC Public Service Commission will say, no doubt, something about future demand for electric power demands future power supply. What's not being said is the expectation of the passage of the second half of the 1992 Energy Policy Act.

The first half passed in 1992 and allowed for wholesale wheeling, such as Duke selling to Southern through SCANA lines. The second half, retail choice, was stalled by what Washington journalists called the "Southern Mafia," well-fitting suits from Southern, SCANA, Progress, Duke, et al.

Electric power in the South was and is relatively cheap to produce and distribute compared with the national average, especially with the Northeast. With cheaper operations, the operating profit margins get fatter. The utilities around here do well for their shareholders.

As the 1992 Energy Policy Act was under debate, the Southern Mafia saw no incentives to free up commerce and competition on the retail level, forcing down prices and profit margins.

The original bill that became the 1992 Energy Policy Act had retail in mind and in print. Under the language of the original energy bill, a citizen of Florence County could chose between CP&L (now Progress) and SCANA, depending on costs and simple personal preference. A citizen of Columbia could choose between the west-of-the-Congaree Co-op and SCANA. Whole new suppliers could show up to compete, assuming they could sell electric power cheaper than the existing suppliers.

Now Duke, Southern, SCANA, and Progress are saying each needs new nuclear power plants to generate electricity for their designated and regulated and protected respective domains. But the other shoe could drop on the electric utility industry's regulatory protection. The electric utilities could lose their designated, regulated, and protected domains. Competition could come in on the retail level, freeing up access for everybody, and rendering some of the new electric power unnecessary, like in 1984.