Georgia Power said Wednesday that a nuclear power plant in Georgia has begun splitting atoms in the second of two new reactors, a significant step toward providing carbon-free electricity. It was announced that there is.
A division of Atlanta-based Southern Corp. announced that its operators have reached self-sustaining nuclear fission in a reactor at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta. The heat is used to generate steam, which rotates a turbine and generates electricity.
Unit 4 of the Vogtle plant is currently scheduled to begin commercial operations in the second quarter of 2024, between April 1 and June 30. Earlier this month, the utility announced a postponement beyond its original March 30 deadline due to vibrations found in its cooling system. .
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Georgia Power said it is continuing start-up tests on Unit 4 to ensure the reactor system can operate under the high heat and pressure inside the reactor. Georgia Power says the operator will ramp up the power, synchronize the generators to the grid and begin generating electricity. The operator then attempts to gradually increase the reactor’s power to 100%.
Unit 3 began commercial operation last summer, joining two older reactors that had been standing on the site for decades.
Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, January 20, 2023. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
Regulators in December approved an additional 6% rate increase for Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers to pay for Vogtle’s remaining $7.56 billion in costs. As a result, residential customers are expected to pay an additional $8.95 per month, on top of the $5.42 increase that went into effect when the utility was established. Unit 3 has started operation.
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 new U.S. reactors built from scratch in 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.
