South Carolina's Abandoned Nuclear Reactors Positioned To Fuel The AI Datacenter Boom

Abandoned in 2017, a pair of incomplete South Carolina nuclear reactors may get a new lease on life due to the growing need to power AI datacenters.

The VC Summer nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville houses a single reactor that came online in 1984, and two additional units that began construction in 2013 before being abandoned after delays and contractor bankruptcy. State-owned Santee Cooper, the largest energy provider in South Carolina, now owns the facility and announced last week that it's seeking a buyer to complete the abandoned project.

"Considering the long timelines required to bring new nuclear units online, Santee Cooper has a unique opportunity to explore options for Summer Units 2 and 3 and their related assets that could allow someone to generate reliable, carbon emissions-free electricity on a meaningfully shortened timeline," Santee Cooper president and CEO Jimmy Staton said.

"Advanced manufacturing investments, AI-driven datacenter demand, and the tech industry's zero-carbon targets" are fueling renewed interest in nuclear energy, Staton added.

VC Summer units 2 and 3, both designed to use Westinghouse AP1000 reactors like those that came online in 2023 and 2024 at Georgia's Vogtle nuclear power plant, could deliver as much as 2,200 megawatts of power when completed. As for how quickly the work could be done, and at what cost, that's not clear. Santee Cooper declined to comment when asked for specifics.

That said, the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council inspected the incomplete units in September 2024, finding [PDF] equipment in largely good condition with no obvious degradation that would preclude completing construction.

"Both the installed components and those in storage are in excellent condition," the council's report found.

"The condition of the various buildings and facilities shows no degradation, corrosion or spalling of concrete," the report added. "Installed components show no corrosion other than surface rust which would be expected under a construction project in progress."

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VC Summer Unit 2 was approximately 48 percent completed when construction was abandoned, the council said. Unit 3 is considerably further behind, but neither is in a state to preclude the resumption of construction.

Talk about timing

Santee Cooper's decision to seek a buyer for VC Summer units 2 and 3 is perfectly timed to capitalize not only on news that companies like Microsoft and Amazon have sunk cash into snagging nuclear power for their datacenters, but also on the US government's expanding nuclear footprint.

Santee Cooper announced that it was seeking proposals for the VC Summer buyout the same day OpenAI and a group of backers announced the Stargate Project, which seeks to invest as much as half a trillion dollars in AI infrastructure in the US over the next four years.

AI infrastructure on an OpenAI scale demands enormous power – so What better place to build it than a site with existing infrastructure and a potential for nuclear energy on a shorter timeline?

It's unknown if anyone has bid on the VC Summer project yet. Santee Cooper, which took ownership of the incomplete units in 2018, said bids for the nuclear takeover are due by May 5. ®