Southern Company (SO)

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Southern Co. CEO to ask Toshiba to help complete Georgia reactors
Southern Co. (SO) CEO Tom Fanning says he will ask Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSBF -1.5%) to honor what he says is a commitment to complete two nuclear reactors in Georgia after lead contractor Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy protection.
Ahead of talks with Toshiba and Japanese government officials today, Fanning tells WSJ that the Vogtle project has the support of the U.S. administration as a direct employer of 5K people and a creator of 30K jobs throughout the supply chain.
“The commitments are not just financial and operational, but there are moral commitments as well,” Fanning says.
Toshiba and its creditors likely will see it differently: Toshiba says it will honor ~¥650B ($5.9B) in Westinghouse obligations it had guaranteed, but that it plans to exit the business of building nuclear plants and does not expect further losses.