The Latest: AG also asked for criminal nuke project probe

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Latest on two failed nuclear power plant projects in South Carolina (all times local):

5 p.m.

South Carolina’s top prosecutor has also asked for state investigators to look into possible criminal violations with the utilities involved in an abandoned a multibillion-dollar nuclear power construction project.

Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter Friday asking the State Law Enforcement Division to assign agents to the case and report to one of his prosecutors.

The letter does not specify which laws Wilson thought might have been broken leading to the collapse of the project at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

On Monday, South Carolina House leaders asked state agents to investigate South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and its parent company, SCANA. State-owned utility Santee Cooper was also involved in the project.

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10:50 a.m.

One of South Carolina’s top lawmakers is asking state police to investigate “potential criminality” on the part of one of the co-owners that has abandoned a multibillion-dollar nuclear power construction project.

House Speaker Jay Lucas on Monday wrote a letter to State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel requesting the investigation. In the missive, Lucas writes that he and other lawmakers believe the collapse of the nuclear reactor project at V.C. Summer “is a direct result of misrepresentation” by South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and its parent company, SCANA.

The letter was also signed by state Reps. Peter McCoy and Russell Ott, leaders of a House panel looking into the project’s failure. That committee next meets Tuesday.

A SCANA spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an email message seeking comment.