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JENKINSVILLE (AP) -- Santee Cooper says a Florida utility is exploring an investment in a pair of proposed nuclear reactors in Jenkinsville.

The state-owned utility says it has signed a letter of intent with Florida Municipal Power Agency to buy part of Santee Cooper's share in new reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper want to operate two 1,100-megawatt reactors at V.C. Summer, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia. Santee Cooper has signed similar agreements with Orlando Utilities Commission and North Carolina-based Duke Energy.

The reactors will be among the first built in the U.S. in a generation. Officials expect the first reactor to generate power by 2016, and the second in 2019.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)