Toshiba to Send Billions to Georgia Power to Finish Nukes

Toshiba's bankrupt nuclear unit agreed to direct up to $3.68 billion to Southern Company's Vogtle nuclear project to finish it.

The Tokyo-based company will pay Georgia Power, a unit of Southern, in installments between October 2017 and January 2021.

In a statement, Southern says the deal will hand over management of the project from Westinghouse to Southern.

(Read "Westinghouse Nuclear Files for U.S. Bankruptcy Protection."

The agreement was approved by the U.S. Department of Energy and is subject to approval of the Westinghouse Board of Directors and the bankruptcy court. The project is co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities.

The scope of the service agreement with Westinghouse includes engineering, procurement and licensing support, as well as access to Westinghouse intellectual property needed for the project. The agreement will take effect after approval of the bankruptcy court and rejection of the current engineering, procurement and construction contract by Westinghouse. The interim assessment agreement, which has allowed progress to continue on the construction site, was extended through June 22.

Southern Company's nuclear business unit is building two 1,117 MW AP1000 units at its Vogtle station in Georgia. The units, numbered 3 and 4, were the first in the U.S. to be licensed for the Westinghouse reactor technology.

In addition, South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., principal business unit of SCANA, and state-owned Santee Cooper, are building two 1,117-megawatt (MW) AP1000 units at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County, S.C. V.C. Summer Unit 1 has been in commercial operation for more than 30 years.