A federal committee that reviews the national security implications of foreign entities doing business in the United States said it might investigate potential transactions in the Westinghouse Electric Co. bankruptcy that has put completion of the $14 billion V.C. Summer nuclear power project in doubt.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States filed a letter late Monday with the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York stating that it could conduct an investigation into the possible sale of Westinghouse assets to foreign businesses. That investigation ultimately could be forwarded to President Donald Trump for further action, the letter states.

There are concerns in Washington, D.C., that Chinese investors might make a play for Westinghouse assets through the bankruptcy court, according to news reports. Westinghouse currently is a subsidiary of Japan-based Toshiba Corp., which has not announced any plans to sell the nuclear unit.

Mollie Gore, spokeswoman for V.C. Summer co-owner Santee Cooper, said the utility would not be surprised by such a review but doesn't expect it to impact an ongoing analysis of the nuclear plant's future. A spokeswoman with SCANA Corp., parent company to South Carolina Electric & Gas and the majority owner of V.C. Summer, did not respond to a request for comments.

Meanwhile, a report filed with the state's Office of Regulatory Staff says it could be months before Westinghouse makes a formal decision on whether to honor its contract with SCANA and Santee Cooper to build a pair of reactors at V.C. Summer. The two utilities, which co-own the Midlands power plant, are paying to keep construction on track under an interim agreement that expires June 26.

Southern Co. has a similar arrangement at Plant Vogtle in Georgia, where Westinghouse was building two reactors, but that agreement expires Friday.

If Westinghouse ultimately rejects the V.C. Summer contract as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, SCE&G and Santee Cooper would have to find a replacement contractor or build the reactors themselves. The utilities could try to recover financial damages from Westinghouse in court, but such litigation would be costly and time-consuming.

Santee Cooper's board of directors has called a special meeting to be held in closed session Wednesday to get legal advice on the nuclear project.

Several V.C. Summer contractors and vendors have filed liens against Westinghouse with the bankruptcy court. The Office of Regulatory Staff said there is no timeline for when creditors will be paid because there is no current deadline for Westinghouse to file a reorganization plan.

"It is generally understood that, in a case such as the Westinghouse case, payments to creditors hold pre-petition unsecured claims are not likely to commence for an extended period of time ...," the agency said in its report.

Westinghouse recently filed thousands of pages of documents outlining the company's financial condition, showing an estimated $5 billion in assets and $618 million in known liabilities. But breaking construction contracts at V.C. Summer and Vogtle could cost Westinghouse billions of dollars, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. That newspaper said Fluor Corp. and Bechtel Corp., among the nation's largest engineering and construction firms, might be preparing bids to take over the projects.

The federal committee looking into a potential foreign buyer said in its letter that an investigation could delay progress in the bankruptcy case. Committee investigations can take up to 75 days, according to the letter.

"If (the commmittee) determines that the transaction poses national security concerns that cannot be resolved, it will refer the transaction to the president unless the parties choose to abandon the transaction," the letter states. "The president may suspend or prohibit the transaction."

The president's decision would not be subject to judicial review, according to the letter.

The committee is an inter-governmental agency that includes representatives from U.S. Treasury, Homeland Security, the Attorney General's office, the departments of defense, commerce and energy and other agencies.

The nearly decade-long V.C. Summer project has been beset by financial and construction problems. The current cost estimate for the reactors is 21.6 percent higher than an original $11.4 billion price tag, and analysts say the eventual cost could balloon to $19 billion if both reactors are built.

The construction contract between Westinghouse and the South Carolina utilities was made public late last month. It sheds little light on the cost overruns, showing nearly three dozen change orders totaling about $325 million a fraction of the $2.6 billion in cost overruns since the project was announced in 2008.

Construction also is years behind schedule, with a pre-bankruptcy estimate putting the first reactor online in April 2020 and completion of the second unit delayed to December 2020. The reactors have to be online by the end of 2020 to qualify for federal tax credits that could offset about $2.2 billion of construction costs that utility customers have been paying.

Cayce-based SCANA owns 55 percent of the V.C. Summer project while Moncks Corner-based Santee Cooper owns the other 45 percent. Under their current agreement with Westinghouse, the utilities are expected to decide by June 26 whether to proceed with construction of one or both reactors or to abandon the project altogether. If that happens, the utilities say they still would have to build some other type of generating plant to meet future electricity needs.

Reach David Wren at 843-937-5550 or on Twitter at @David_Wren_

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Westinghouse bankruptcy draws federal scrutiny as VC Summer nuclear project's future remains unclear - Charleston Post Courier