At a hearing before the North Carolina Utilities Commission,
Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers made the case for continued work on two new reactors.
The hearing was held as Duke seeks regulatory permission
to invest an additional $287 million in the project over the next two years. In
2008 the company applied for a license to build the reactors at the site of a
previous nuclear project near Gaffney, S.C., that was abandoned in the 1980s.
Rogers told the commission "What we're really trying to
do is move the ball forward to achieve the building of this plant," according
to an Associated Press report Wednesday. "If we don't move forward, then we lose the
option, and I think that would be a mistake."
The company has received approval to spend $172 million on
the plant so far.
North Carolina also is among several states considering laws
that would allow utilities to charge ratepayers for new plant construction
costs, regardless of whether the plant is completed.
The hearing took place in North Carolina because 70 percent
of Duke customers in the Carolinas reside in that state