Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, my name is Barnie Beasley. I am President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Nuclear Operating Company. I also serve on the Executive Committee of the Nuclear Energy Institute. I have attached a brief resumé to my testimony as Exhibit 1. Thank you for this opportunity to express the nuclear energy industry’s strong support of S. 2589, the Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act. I will also address additional provisions that we believe would strengthen the legislation’s role to enhance the management and disposal of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, to ensure protection of public health and safety, to ensure the territorial integrity and security of the repository at Yucca Mountain.

Southern Nuclear is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and is a subsidiary of Southern Company. Southern Company is a public utility holding company with its principal office in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to Southern Nuclear, Southern Company is the corporate parent of five electric utilities: Alabama Power Company, Georgia Power Company, Gulf Power Company, Mississippi Power Company, as well as Southern Power Company and Southern Company Services, Inc. Southern Company’s subsidiaries provide reliable and affordable electric service to 4.2 million retail and wholesale customers across the southeastern United States.

Southern Nuclear is the licensed operator of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant and the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, which are both two-unit nuclear plants partially owned by Georgia Power Company, and the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, which is a two-unit nuclear plant owned by Alabama Power Company. The six nuclear units operated by Southern Nuclear comprise over 6000 megawatts of generating capacity and represent approximately 17% of the total annual generation of the Southern Company system. Both Plants Hatch and Farley have extended their operating licenses for 20 years. The application for the extension of Plant Vogtle’s operating license will be filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) next year. These plants provide our customers with reliable and reasonably priced electric energy.

Southern Nuclear will file an application for an Early Site Permit this month in order to determine the suitability of the Vogtle site for potentially two additional nuclear units at Plant Vogtle and is on a schedule to submit an application for a Combined Operating License (“COL”) by early 2008.