The answer to that question is not “a better football team” - although it may be true.

The answer we’re looking for is “a better nuclear project.”

That begs another question: How can Georgia do what the big brains at SC Electric & Gas, Santee Cooper, Fluor, Toshiba and Westingthouse can’t at our $9 billion nuclear project?

Georgia is building two similar Westinghouse reactors.

Thanks to a source who works there, the Chronicle has learned that the two new Vogtle reactors are close to working.

The Southern Company has faced skyrocketing costs and long delays like what SCE&G and Santee Cooper faced here.

The difference is that Georgia seems to be making their project work. Do you wonder what they could teach our high-paid nuclear mismanagers here?

“The first of the AP1000 reactors is powering up, still going through testing,” the source said. Nuclear “fuel is in the pot, and they’re making steam.

“A few more months and they’ll be up to full power and producing electricity. The second reactor is maybe 6 to 12 months after it.”

The Georgia Public Service Commission last December voted 5-0 to continue construction.

“Cheap electricity and a reliable grid are what companies look for,” Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols said.

Nuclear operators earn up to $91,170 a year. 800 permanent jobs and 6,000 temporary construction jobs can mean a $115 million a year payroll. That’s what SCE&G’s failure cost us.

What’s more, had SCE&G finished its project, it could have produced the cheaper power industries will move here to get.

China aims to increase its nuclear capacity 70% by 2021 and will surpass us by 2030.

It wants to export its technology to lock countries into longterm trade relationships that put the US at a disadvantage.

If Georgia can make its nuclear project work, that should mean we can do it, too. But not with the kind of dishonest and irresponsible leadership that SCE&G has suffered.

– JerryBellune@yahoo.com