Cayce- based Scana Corp. is one of the four power companies expected to split $18.5 billion in federal financing to build nuclear reactors. The other three are UniStar Nuclear Energy of Maryland, Southern Co. of Georgia, and NRG Energy of Texas.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the four companies have already selected sites for their reactors and are in front of the pack to receive licenses to build and operate from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But the new nuclear power plants are expected to cost so much — somewhere between $5 billion and $12 billion — the federal government has to help with the financing.

Seventeen power companies across the country have applied for $122 billion of federal loan guarantees for 21 nuclear reactors. The federal government's favorite four all have their ducks in a row, and they present a healthy mix of traditional regulated shareholder - owned utility monopolies (Scana and Southern) and merchant power producers (NRG and Unistar), flexible firms that can sell power at unregulated prices.

The fear among the country's coal- burning power producers is the real possibility Congress will impose emissions caps on carbon, driving up kilowatt- hour costs by as much as 50 percent. Electric power generated by nuclear plants comes with no carbon.

Southern and Scana intend to use a nuclear plant design by Westinghouse Electric Co., controlled by Japan- based Toshiba Corp. The Westinghouse design is already certified by the NRC.

Scana has disclosed it wants to use only maybe half the federal offer, which keeps Scana's debt low. Its Fairfield County two- plant expansion is projected to cost $9.8 billion. Last February, SCE&G, Scana's largest subsidiary, and Santee Cooper were granted approval from the state Public Service Commission to build two 1,117 megawatt nuclear plants in Fairfield County.

State- owned- and- operated Santee Cooper is taking a 45 percent position in the deal, both operating and output, and SCE&G takes its 55 percent. The first unit is expected to be operating by 2016, and the second by 2019. Santee Cooper and SCE&G are already partners on the 1984 nuclear plant in Fairfield County, which is a 966- megawatt reactor.

Meanwhile, Charlotte - based Duke Energy is not chosen for federal loan guarantees. It still plans to build a nuclear plant in Ohio and another in Cherokee County, S.C. Duke already operates three nuclear plants in the Carolinas.

SCE&G Midlands residential customers pay 43 percent more per kilowatthour for their electric power than Duke's customers pay in the Upstate.