Jul 31, 2017

Major nuclear power project halted in South Carolina

Jeffrey Collins / AP

South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper, a state-owned power provider, announced Monday that they are pausing all construction work on two partially-completed nuclear reactors in the Midlands, effective immediately, which could cost the state nearly $9 billion, per The Post and Courier.

  • Santee Cooper executives said they plan to preserve what has been built so far, and will look for potential buyers to take over the remainder of the $14 billion project. CEO Lonnie Carter said the work is now estimated to cost roughly 75 percent more than the company originally anticipated.
  • Why it matters: The decision is a mortal wound to years-long industry hopes of a U.S. nuclear "renaissance" that would see a wave a new reactors built for the first time in decades. It also comes amid uncertainty over the fate of two reactors that power giant Southern Company is building in Georgia.
  • Go deeper: Axios' Amy Harder on America's nuclear failure.

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Axios
25 seconds ago - Politics & Policy

Louisville officer: "Breonna Taylor would be alive" if we had served no-knock warrant

Breonna Taylor memorial in Louisville. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, the Louisville officer who led the botched police raid that caused the death of Breonna Taylor, said the No. 1 thing he wishes he had done differently is either served a "no-knock" warrant or given five to 10 seconds before entering the apartment: "Breonna Taylor would be alive, 100 percent."

Driving the news: Mattingly, who spoke to ABC News and Louisville's Courier Journal for his public interview, was shot in the leg in the initial moments of the March 13 raid. Mattingly did not face any charges after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he and another officer were "justified" in returning fire to protect themselves against Taylor's boyfriend.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Scott Rosenberg, Ashley Gold, Kyle Daly
30 mins ago - Technology

U.S. vs. Google — the siege begins

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Justice Department fired the starter pistol on what's likely to be a years-long legal siege of Big Tech by the U.S. government when it filed a major antitrust suit Tuesday against Google.

The big picture: Once a generation, it seems, federal regulators decide to take on a dominant tech company. Two decades ago, Microsoft was the target; two decades before that, IBM.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Dion Rabouin, author of Markets
50 mins ago - Economy & Business

Why the stimulus delay isn't a crisis (yet)

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

If the impasse between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House on a new stimulus deal is supposed to be a crisis, you wouldn't know it from the stock market, where prices continue to rise.

  • That's been in no small part because U.S. economic data has held up remarkably well in recent months thanks to the $2 trillion CARES Act and Americans' unusual ability to save during the crisis.
Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow