Power & Operations

Vogtle-3 “likely” to miss scheduled start date, says Georgia Power

March 22, 2021, 3:02PMNuclear News

Vogtle-3's containment and turbine building. Photo: Georgia Power

Vogtle-3, the first of two 1,100-MWe AP1000 pressurized water reactors under construction at the Vogtle plant near Waynesboro, Ga., may not go into service in November as planned, Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power has announced.

According to a March 19 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the date for starting commercial operation at Unit 3 could be delayed by a month or more at a cost to Georgia Power of approximately $25 million per month. “While [Vogtle plant operator] Southern Nuclear continues to target a November 2021 in-service date for Unit 3, the schedule is challenged and … a delay is likely,” Georgia Power stated. The filing made no mention of changes to Unit 4’s scheduled start date of November 2022.

The reason: Georgia Power’s filing cited the need for completing “additional construction remediation work, primarily related to electrical commodity installations, necessary to ensure quality and design standards are met.” In addition, the identification of the additional work has led Southern Nuclear to review the project’s construction quality programs and implement improvement plans, Georgia Power said, adding that the findings resulting from that review could require additional remediation.

In case you missed it: Earlier this year, Georgia Power announced that the Vogtle construction team expected to further adjust dates for key Unit 3 milestones, including the start of hot functional testing and fuel loading, but said that it expected to put the unit into service in November.

Tags:
ap1000georgia powersecurities and exchange commissionsouthern companysouthern nuclearvogtle
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