Santee Cooper is suing its nuclear contractor for millions of dollars in abandoned nuclear equipment.

The contractor, bankrupt Westinghouse Electric, claims it owns the material.

Last month it filed a lawsuit to force a sale of the material for $8 million to a Georgia power utility that is building 2 reactors.

The taxpayer-owned utility filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to rule that Westinghouse has no legal claim to the abandoned material.

That may be difficult as Santee Cooper and its partner, SC Electric & Gas, abandoned the project – not Westinghouse Electric.

Dominion Energy, which now owns SCE&G, is not involved in the lawsuit.

Selling the material could help Santee Cooper pay off its $4 billion nuclear debt.

Westinghouse’s reactors did not work, leading to billions in construction costs.

Santee Cooper claims:

• It more than paid for the equipment during the work.

• Westinghouse did not claim the material when it retrieved other items it left.

• It invested more than $5 million to protect the materials for future sale.