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Nuclear Energy Gets An Early Christmas Present In Georgia

This article is more than 6 years old.

Georgia Power Company

Christmas came early to Georgia yesterday when the Georgia Public Service Commission unanimously approved the completion of two new nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Generating Station.

The project has become controversial because it is behind schedule and over budget. It will cost over $20 billion, much more than the initial estimate of $14 billion. Yet the new Vogtle units will be a valuable source of reliable, clean, stable and cost-effective electricity for the rest if this century, more than paying for the cost of the overruns.

The new units, which are mostly finished, are co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities, and are the only new nuclear reactors currently under construction in the United States.

As part of the approval, and in light of contractor Westinghouse's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in March, the project's owners have agreed to new penalties for these delays and cost increases.

A recent commitment of $1.67 billion in new loan guarantees from the Department of Energy, and the recent payment by Westinghouse's parent Toshiba of about $2.75 billion scheduled over several years, will help minimize the impact of this project on rate-payers’ electricity bills.

Construction has continued uninterrupted at Vogtle following Westinghouse's bankruptcy. Southern Nuclear is taking over as project manager and Bechtel is managing construction. ‘Progress is steady and evident, illustrated by multiple recent achievements such as the placement of new shield building panels for both units, placement of the 52-ton CA02 module for Unit 4 and the installation of the first steam generator,’ Georgia Power said.

Expected to come online in November 2021 (Unit 3) and November 2022 (Unit 4), the new Plant Vogtle units will generate enough emission-free electricity to completely power the cities of Atlanta, Savannah River and Augusta - and then some.

The world’s leading climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the International Energy Agency, and most of academia all say we need much more nuclear power to successfully address global warming.

So completing this project is important on many fronts. Dr. James Marra captured this succinctly, ‘Carbon dioxide emissions have increased in both California and Germany over the past few years, as nuclear plants have closed. The Germans and Californians have both realized that increases in solar and wind could not meet their zero-carbon energy demands after the nuclear plant closures, and both significantly increased natural gas use.’

This approval was also crucial because the recent nuclear production tax credits, which would apply to these Vogtle units, were dropped last week from the final national tax bill, even as renewables’ tax credits were retained. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) suggested they could be included in separate legislation early next year.

These new units are vital to America’s commercial nuclear industry which safely and reliably produces 63% of America’s emission-free electric power, three times the amount produced by all renewables. It is no surprise that nuclear in America is the safest and most efficient power in the world.

The international ramifications of the Vogtle decision are also serious. It will help keep the United States as the global leader in nuclear safety, security and technical innovation, even as China is creeping up to overtake us in the next two decades.

Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick said, ‘Completing the Plant Vogtle expansion is good for America on many levels, especially in terms of our national security, our commitment to a cleaner environment, and energy diversity.’

‘Demonstrating we can build and complete new nuclear plants here in America will help us regain our leadership in a technology we invented. America’s pre-eminence in nuclear energy makes our country safer because it allows us to influence and control how this technology is used around the world.’

So Merry Christmas Georgia! May your Holiday lights shine bright.

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