Georgia Power announced Thursday that vibrations found in the cooling system of its second new reactor will delay the reactor’s start of power generation.
Plant Vogtle’s Unit 4, the largest subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Corp., won’t begin commercial operations until sometime in the second quarter of 2024, or between April 1 and June 30. Announced.
The power company said in a filing with investors that the vibrations began during the start-up test of Unit 3, which began commercial operation last summer and joins two older reactors that have stood for decades on the site near Augusta. He said the vibrations were “similar in nature” to the vibrations he experienced inside.
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In this case, the utility company found that construction workers had not installed enough bracing, causing the pipes to vibrate during testing. Georgia Power said the problem with Unit 4 has been resolved, but there are too many tests to do before the March 30 deadline.
Georgia Power said it will likely lose $30 million in profits for each month since March when Unit 4 has been out of service due to an earlier order by state power regulators. Five members of the Georgia Public Service Commission order that the company cannot earn additional return on equity through construction premiums imposed on Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers after March 30. did.
A typical residential customer pays approximately $1,000 more over time to pay for financing costs.
Reactors 1 and 2 are operating at the Vogtle plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Unit 3 is already in operation, but Unit 4 needs to undergo testing after vibrations are detected in the cooling system, so commercial operations could only begin from April 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024. becomes. (Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)
The company said if construction of Unit 4 begins by June 30, the construction budget will not be affected, but if the project is extended until July, it will have to pay $15 million a month in additional construction costs.
Regulators in December approved an additional 6% rate hike to pay for Vogtle’s remaining $7.56 billion in costs, which are expected to bring monthly costs to $8.95 for a typical residential customer. This is on top of his $5.42 price increase that went into effect when Unit 3 started operating.
The new Vogtle reactor is now projected to cost Georgia Power and three other owners $31 billion, according to calculations by The Associated Press. Add in the $3.7 billion that prime contractor Westinghouse paid the Bogle owners to exit construction, and the total is nearly $35 billion.
The reactor was originally expected to cost $14 billion to build and be completed by 2017.
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Units 3 and 4 are the first America’s new nuclear reactor was built from scratch In a few decades. Each can power 500,000 homes and businesses without emitting carbon dioxide. But Vogtle’s costs could deter utilities from pursuing nuclear power, even as government officials and some utilities are turning again to nuclear power to help mitigate climate change.
Georgia Power owns 45.7% of the reactor, with Oglethorpe Power, which supplies power to member-owned cooperatives, owning a smaller stake. Georgia City Power Authority. and the town of Dalton.
Some power companies in Florida and Alabama also have contracts to buy Vogl’s power.
