JENKINSVILLE – After a nearly three-month delay, S.C. Electric & Gas (SCE&G) announced this week the successful pour of concrete on the nuclear island at V.C. Summer Unit 2 in Jenkinsville. The pour marks the first new nuclear construction in the U.S. in three decades, SCE&G said.
Last December, the Shaw Group, which is leading construction at the site, laid off approximately 140 workers after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) detected problems with the rebar construction on which the basemat was to be poured. Shaw had deviated from the original design of the rebar (steel bars used to reinforce concrete), an NRC spokesman said in December, causing construction to come to a halt until either the NRC accepted the deviation or Shaw reinstalled the rebar. In the ensuing months, Shaw reinforced the rebar, paving the way for this week’s successful pour.
A spokesperson for SCANA, of which SCE&G is principal subsidiary, said the project remains on schedule, with Unit 2 slated to go online in 2017, followed by Unit 3 in 2018. Emails to CB&I, the company that now owns Shaw, regarding the status of the employees laid off in December were not returned at press time.
