Plans to restart the shuttered Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Plant Units 2 and 3 reactors in Jenkinsville, South Carolina, have begun to gain momentum, following recent commitments by major data center operators to offtake power from large nuclear power stations.

In January, Santee Cooper, the owner and operator of the plant, issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to acquire and complete, or propose alternatives for, the two units. If built, the units could deliver 2.2GW of nuclear capacity.

Earlier this month, Santee reported that it had selected “fewer than five” proposals from 14 received to potentially acquire and complete the construction of the reactors. The selected organizations will now submit final proposals for Santee’s evaluation.

"We expect to complete this process by the end of 2025. Santee Cooper does not intend to own or operate the units, but rather to enable interested entities to pursue completion and operation of the units for the benefit of all South Carolina," the spokesperson said.

The reactors were originally announced back in 2008, when Santee Cooper - then known as South Carolina Electric & Gas - applied to build two 1.1GW AP1000 pressurized water reactors on site. However, due to the bankruptcy of Westinghouse, which was contracted to construct the reactors, the project was ultimately abandoned in 2017.

The company claims that its location within the nuclear security “envelope” of the VC Summer station site, along with access to ample land, water, and transmission infrastructure, will enable the project to be completed on an accelerated timeline.

The VC station currently has one operational unit with a capacity of 973MW, and provides energy to customers of Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy.

The interest has likely been spurred by huge demand from the hyperscale data center market, with several major companies signing offtake agreements with nuclear power plants for significant amounts of capacity over the last twelve months. The agreements have facilitated the restart of several mothballed plants, which otherwise would not have had the capacity to undertake the work necessary to facilitate the restart.

Most notably, last year Microsoft signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Constellation Energy to offtake the entire capacity of the revived Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. The Unit 1 reactor was shut down due to poor economics; however, with the financial support provided through the Microsoft PPA, it intends to restart operations in 2028.

Constellation has also used PPAs with hyperscalers as a means to uprate existing facilities. In June, Constellation signed a 20-year PPA with Meta for the entire output of the Clinton Clean Energy Center. Through the PPA, the plant will see its capacity increased by 30MW through uprates to 1.121GW.

Vistra approval for extension

In other nuclear news, Vistra announced that it had received approval to extend the operation of its 1.268GW Perry Nuclear Power Plant, near Cleveland, Ohio, through 2046, an additional 20 years beyond its original license.

"Extending operations at Perry ensures that Ohio continues to benefit from a resilient source of baseload power, supporting jobs, economic activity, and grid reliability across the region. With this latest approval, all six reactors in Vistra's fleet have received license extensions, reinforcing their long-term value to the communities and markets we serve," said Jim Burke, president and CEO of Vistra.

Following the approval, Vistra has now secured extensions on all six of its nuclear reactors, which together have the capacity to generate more than 6.5GW of power.

Last year, the company reported that it was seeking agreements with data center firms in Texas and the PJM region to meet the industry’s growing energy demand.

Vistra indicated that it had entered into discussions with several high-profile data center operators to increase the output of its nuclear power projects.

Several other US utilities have also floated the idea of restarting nuclear plants to power the data center market. Last October, NextEra reported that it was considering restarting the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa due to strong interest from data centers.