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COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Electric & Gas will have to wait for permission to begin preparing a site where the utility wants to build two nuclear reactors, the state Public Service Commission decided Wednesday.

Regulators gave Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups two weeks to file paperwork to request that the commission have a public hearing on the proposal.

“I do not want to unreasonably delay this matter,” said commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who was the only board member to speak before the unanimous vote.

SCE&G, working jointly with Santee Cooper, wants to spend $10 billion to build two nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia. SCE&G was asking the commission for permission to begin clearing the site and doing other preparation work. The utility said it would not pass the cost of this work on to ratepayers.

The commission will decide whether the utilities can build the reactors and raise rates to pay for construction at a later date.

The site preparation work includes building a rail line needed to replace a transformer next year at the reactor currently at the site, SCE&G spokesman Eric Boomhower said.

He said if the Public Service Commission approves the work by the end of September, it shouldn’t affect the current reactor or SCE&G’s goal to open the first new reactor by 2016.

“We’re committed to an open and transparent process,” Boomhower said.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission also agreed Wednesday to review the request to build the two reactors.

Friends of the Earth will do its best to file the paperwork in time, spokesman Tom Clements said.

“There should be an opportunity for public testimony, which is a good thing for ratepayers,” Clements said.

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