If the partners fail to reach a deal to save the Vogtle expansion, there will be no new nuclear plants under construction in the U.S., a situation that worries some politicians. “It will be the end of clean, reliable and safe nuclear power in America,” said Johnny Isakson, a Republican U.S. senator from Georgia. A similar political fracas has broken out in South Carolina after two utilities decided last year to stop building the only other nuclear plant under construction in the U.S. The decision has unleashed months of rancor, as neither shareholders nor electric customers wanted to be left with a nearly $5-billion bill for an unfinished nuclear power plant . The Georgia project “is only going to get uglier,” said John Larsen, a director of the Rhodium Group, an independent energy research firm. “It could get uglier on the cost side if they stay, but if anyone […]