First New U.S. Nuclear Units in 30 Years Get Green Light in Georgia

Nuclear Power Industry

Charlotte McLeod Reports that the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has given the company unanimous approval to finish work on Vogtle 3 and 4, which are located near Waynesboro. The new reactors are co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities. Unit 3 is expected to come online in November 2021, with Unit 4 following in November 2022. They are the only nuclear units under construction in the US, and are expected to power about 500,000 homes and businesses.

“The decision to complete Vogtle 3 & 4 is important for Georgia’s energy future and the United States,” said Paul Bowers, Georgia Power’s chairman, president and CEO. He added, “the Vogtle expansion is key to ensuring that our state has affordable and reliable energy today that will support economic growth now and for generations to come.” U.S. advocates of nuclear power agree, according to the New York Times, that many view the Georgia PSC’s green light for Vogtle 3 and 4 as a “lifeline for the nuclear industry.” While nuclear energy provides one-fifth of the country’s electricity, reactor building has stagnated in recent decades, “in part because of soaring construction costs [created by excessive regulatory requirements and competition from temporarily cheap natural gas and from the new experiments in renewable energy that require grid-power from nuclear power to exist, i.e, during no-wind and no light conditions.”

But not everyone is convinced moving forward with the nuclear units is a good idea. Georgia Power received approval to build the reactors back in 2009, and since then has faced numerous hurdles. Originally scheduled to come online in 2016 and 2017, the reactors were delayed by construction problems, and by this year’s bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse. Costs have ballooned from $14 billion to potentially over $23 billion. “As the last new nuclear power plant … this should be a lesson: these nuclear facilities cannot be built on time nor on budget,” said Stephen A. Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy [ but then again, perhaps the Boulder and Grand Coulee Dams should not have been built in the 1930s having supplied electricity ever since. Nuclear plants are by nature large and expensive projects, but when the economics are spread-out over the 60 years of anticipated operation, the costs pale in comparison, even to wind and solar. Such large projects also provide employment and economic support in the area as well.]

Other critics have pointed out that ordinary people will pay some of the price for Georgia Power’s delays [the costs are minor on a per-person basis]. “There are practical ways in which ratepayers were hurt [?] as a result of the Company’s errors[?]. The Company cannot meet its burden that it is reasonable to recover these costs from ratepayers,” says a report filed earlier this week by Georgia PSC staff. The staff are separate from the commissioners who approved completion of the project [?].

The construction of Vogtle 3 and 4 comes at a time when the uranium industry is enjoying renewed hope from recent production cuts by major miners Cameco  and Kazatomprom having ignited optimism in the sector, with many market watchers calling for fuel-price increases. Optimism has also been stoked in the U.S. by the new administration's positive view about developing nuclear energy for electricity production by large and small (SMR) operations.