- All four co-owners agree to move forward on AP1000 construction project
- Revised cost-sharing agreements will help mitigate financial risk to the partners
- NEI: Vogtle’s completion important to maintain U.S. technical and strategic influence
In a unanimous vote crucial to the future of the only nuclear power plant construction project in the United States, all four co-owners of the two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors being built at Georgia Power’s Vogtle site in Waynesboro, Georgia, agreed this week to continue the project. Continuing the Vogtle build keeps the United States on a path to stay competitive in the global nuclear technology market, the Nuclear Energy Institute said.
“We are all pleased to have reached an agreement and to be moving forward with the construction of Vogtle Units 3 & 4 which is critical to Georgia's energy future,” the co-owners said in a Sept. 26 statement. “While there have been and will be challenges throughout this process, we remain committed to a constructive relationship with each other and are focused on reducing project risk and fulfilling our commitment to our customers.”
The statement added that the co-owners agreed to finalize agreements that would help mitigate future financial risks to each of the partners, as detailed in 8-K financial statements filed by Georgia Power and Oglethorpe Power with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the same day.
Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power is the majority owner in the Vogtle project, with a 45.7 percent stake. The other owners are Oglethorpe Power (30 percent), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7 percent) and Dalton Utilities (1.6 percent).
NEI applauded the decision as a “forward-looking affirmation of the need for reliable and clean new electricity generation.”
“The project represents more than just another power plant project, and nuclear energy represents more than just another energy option,” NEI President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Korsnick said.
The Vogtle 3 and 4 project is about two-thirds complete and the reactors are expected to come on-line in November 2021 and November 2022. The new reactors are the only ones being built in America. The construction project currently employs more than 7,000 workers, and once complete will generate more than 800 permanent jobs.
Of four AP1000s that also have been under construction at Sanmen and Haiyang in China, three started up over the last two months, and Sanmen 1 began commercial operations Sept. 21. The fourth is expected to start up by the end of the year.
Successful completion of the AP1000s at Vogtle will further bolster America’s nuclear energy sector and will help confront the clear strategic challenge to the United States as nations around the world leverage their commercial nuclear programs as tools of geopolitical influence.
“The risks to U.S. national security and its global interests are serious if Russia and China remain unchallenged in their efforts to dominate global civil nuclear energy markets,” Korsnick added.
The U.S. Department of Energy, which has so far issued $5.6 billion of $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for the Vogtle project, also commended the decision to continue construction.
“This historic project will be the first large-scale nuclear utility project completed in the United States in over 30 years and will reaffirm America’s international leadership in nuclear technology and provide a reliable, clean power source for decades to come. DOE hopes the successful completion of this project will mark the beginning of a nuclear renaissance in America,” DOE said in its statement.
To follow the project’s progress, Georgia Power has made available a YouTube channel and photo gallery.