Ex-Westinghouse manager charged with failed nuclear project

  • Prosecutors say Benjamin was hiding cost overruns on a failed project
  • 16 counts result in a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, a $ 5 million fine
  • Benjamin’s lawyer says client innocent

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(Reuters) – A former top executive at U.S. nuclear power plant maker Westinghouse Electric Co was charged with 16 crimes for his alleged role in covering up cost overruns and delays that pursued the now-abandoned construction of two nuclear reactors in South Carolina that once was accused hailed as the start of the US nuclear renaissance.

A grand jury accused Jeffrey Benjamin, a former senior vice president of Westinghouse, of South Carolina in an indictment filed in federal court in Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday.

Benjamin’s attorney, William Sullivan of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, issued a statement calling the allegations “baseless” and saying he was confident a jury would find his client innocent.

Benjamin is the fourth person to be charged in connection with an ongoing investigation into the circumstances of the failed project, which cost $ 9 billion before it was scrapped. The other people pleaded guilty, according to the Justice Department. The other people are Kevin Marsh, the executive director of SCANA Corp, one of the owners of the project; Stephen Byrne, a former executive vice president, also at SCANA; and former Westinghouse Vice President Carl Churchman, said the DOJ.

Westinghouse spokesman Sheriece Matias Dick said the company was unable to comment on legal matters.

Acting US Attorney for the County of South Carolina, M. Rhett DeHart, said in a statement, “Our commitment to investigate and prosecute the VC Summer nuclear debacle has never waned.”

The indictment states that between 2016 and 2017 Benjamin “made materially false and misleading statements in order to continue the project by minimizing the project’s errors”.

According to the DOJ, he directly oversaw all of Westinghouse’s new nuclear projects, including the VC Summer project.

The false information resulted in billions in losses for the project’s owners, SCANA and Santee Cooper, the indictment said.

State-owned Santee Cooper did not immediately respond to a request for comment. SCANA spokespersons were not immediately available for comment.

The charges against Benjamin result in a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine of $ 5 million, the DOJ said.

SCANA and Santee Cooper announced in 2017 that they would be giving up the twin reactor VC summer project, a year after it was due to start producing electricity. It was less than 40% complete.

The case is USA v Benjamin, US District Court for the District of South Carolina, No. 3: 21-cr-00525.

For the US: Brook Andrews from the US Attorney’s Office.

For Benjamin: William Sullivan by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

(This story was updated with a comment from Benjamin’s lawyer.)

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Sebastian Bad

Sebastien Malo reporter on environmental, climate and energy disputes. Reach him at [email protected]

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