SCANA SC Summer reactor exits outage

NEW YORK Oct 14 (Reuters) - SCANA Corp's (SCG.N) 966-megawatt Summer nuclear power station in South Carolina exited an outage and ramped up to 55 percent power by early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

The unit shut on Oct. 2 due to a fault on an output breaker that helps send power to the grid.

The company planned to shut the unit for refueling on about Oct. 16.

The unit last shut for refueling from about April 25-June 16, 2008. It is on an 18-month refueling cycle.

The Summer station, which entered service in 1984, is located in Parr in Fairfield County, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital.

In 2008, SCANA's South Carolina Electric & Gas Co subsidiary and Santee Cooper filed with the NRC to build two of Toshiba Corp (6502.T)/Shaw Group Inc's SGR.N Westinghouse 1,100 MW AP1000 reactors at Summer. The first unit could enter service in 2016 and the second in 2019.

SCE&G, which owns two thirds of the operating reactor, would own 55 percent of the new reactors, while Santee Cooper, which owns the other third of the operating reactor, would own 45 percent of the new reactors.

In 2007 dollars, SCE&G estimated its part of the project would cost about $4.5 billion, including transmission. The $4.5 billion did not include capitalized interest expense.

In its latest quarterly update to South Carolina regulators, SCE&G said its part of the new reactors would cost about $6.8 billion in inflation adjusted, dollars including interest and transmission costs.

The company however said the inflation adjusted number was subject to change every quarter based on inflation projections and the initial $4.5 billion estimate had not changed.

SCE&G planned to recover $22.5 million from rate payers under a state law that allows utilities to recover financing costs associated with new nuclear projects before and during construction.

One MW powers about 700 homes in South Carolina.

SCANA, of Columbia, South Carolina, owns 5,400 MW of generating capacity and supplies electricity to more than 630,000 customers in South Carolina and natural gas to about 1.2 million customers in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.

Santee Cooper, the state-owned power and water utility, supplies power to about 2 million South Carolina residents directly or indirectly. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)