Nuclear cost estimate rises by as much as $4 billion
By Tracy Idell Hamilton and Anton Caputo- Express-News
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CPS officials and Mayor Julián Castro, flanked by every council member except David Medina, held a hastily arranged news conference Tuesday afternoon announcing the delay.
CPS interim General Manager Steve Bartley said the utility's main contractor on the project, Toshiba Inc., informed officials that the cost of the reactors would be “substantially greater” than CPS' estimate of $13 billion, which includes financing.
He said utility officials found out about the increase “within the last week and a half or so.”
But the mayor said he only learned the news Monday night after an aide asked Bartley about rumors of a cost estimate increase.
Castro said he didn't know whether CPS would have divulged the increase to the council before its vote Thursday had his aide not directly questioned utility management.
“One would hope otherwise, but the evidence seems to suggest that they were less than proactive,” he said.
The council was poised to approve $400 million in bond financing Thursday. CPS has already spent roughly $280 million on the project's engineering and planning.
Several council members said they were surprised and shaken by Tuesday's news.
“I'm just glad it came today and not Friday,” Councilman Ray Lopez said.
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