Inside South Carolina's $9 Billion Nuclear Megaproject Under Construction

Описание: Welcome back to Structures Unchained.

Today we’re on a back road outside #Jenkinsville #southcarolina , where there’s an abandoned place that still looks like the future… and why it suddenly looks valuable again.

For eight years, Two unfinished reactors. #V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 have been America’s most expensive pause button — a nuclear expansion that burned through more than $9 billion before it died in 2017.

And now, early 2026, the site is being pulled back into the light — because a private giant, Brookfield, has stepped in with a deal framework tied to $2.7 billion and a promise that this time, the public doesn’t get trapped holding the bag.
The billion dollar question is: Can they actually finish building it this time?
Let’s break it down.

🤝 The 2025 Pivot — When the Ghost Got a Buyer
For years, V.C. Summer lived in a category called “too radioactive to touch.”
Then the energy world changed. Not just in policy — in demand.
The grid is being asked to carry something different now: always-on loads that don’t sleep, that don’t flex, that don’t forgive interruptions. That’s why the revival conversation didn’t come back as a nostalgia project.
It came back as a supply project.

In January 2025, Santee Cooper launched a formal process to seek proposals for the V.C. Summer expansion assets — including the possibility of completing one or both units. That alone was a signal: this wasn’t casual chatter anymore. This was the state-owned utility saying, “We’re opening the door.” Then the door didn’t just crack — it swung.

Multiple bidders showed interest. Proposals came in. Shortlists formed.
And in late October 2025, Santee Cooper selected Brookfield for exclusive negotiations — a move that turned the idea of a restart from a rumor into a process.

Now look at the twist that makes this feel almost scripted.
Brookfield also owns Westinghouse — the same name tied to the #AP1000 build strategy and the 2017 collapse.

Which means the comeback attempt isn’t just a new player saving an old site.

It’s the original universe looping back in on itself, under new ownership, with a second chance to prove the design can be executed cleanly.
By late 2025, reporting around the negotiations tied Brookfield to a proposed $2.7 billion deal framework — money that could erase a massive chunk of the remaining financial scar tied to this site.
But here’s the real pivot:
The restart isn’t being built in the ground first.
It’s being built on paper.
Because the deal structure determines everything — who takes the risk, who owns the output, and who gets blamed if reality hits again.
This comeback doesn’t start with cranes. It starts with contracts — and contracts decide whether the restart is a rescue… or a rerun.

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