NRC hosting open house this week to discuss Vogtle plant performance
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding an in-person open house on Thursday, May 15, to discuss the 2024 safety performance of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia.
Plant Vogtle, operated by Southern Company subsidiary Southern Nuclear, includes the only new commercial nuclear units built in the U.S. during the past 30 years. Vogtle-3 began commercial operations on July 31, 2023; and Voglte-4 followed suit on April 29, 2024.
The open house is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (EDT) at the plant’s Visitor Support Center, 7821 River Road, Waynesboro, Ga. NRC staff, including the resident inspectors based at the plant full time, will be available to discuss plant inspections and oversight.
A closer look: The NRC concluded that all four Vogtle units operated safely last year, though Unit 3 was under increased oversight for part of 2024 after it experienced more unplanned shutdowns with complications than allowed for under the commission’s Reactor Oversight Process (ROP).
One shutdown last July was to the result of “lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps,” Southern Company reported.
“The plant, including all safety systems, responded as designed,” Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins said at the time. “At no time was the safety of the employees or community at risk.” Southern Nuclear notified the NRC through a normal four-hour, nonemergency notification. Units 1, 2, and 4 continued operating while Unit 3 was inspected. “Operators [of Unit 3] responded according to their training,” Hawkins said.
Learn more: A copy of the annual assessment letter for Vogtle-3 and Vogtle-4 is available through the NRC’s website and includes favorable ratings for the plant.
It also said: “In addition to the ROP baseline inspections at [Vogtle] in 2025, the NRC will complete a Unit 3 supplemental inspection in the first quarter.”
About Vogtle: Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, led construction of Vogtle’s new units—the first new commercial nuclear plants built in the U.S. in three decades. Units 3 and 4 are both Westinghouse AP1000s and are expected to run for the next 60–80 years.
Construction began in 2012 and experienced numerous setbacks and a price tag that ballooned from an estimated $14 billion to more than $30 billion. Vogtle is now the largest nuclear generating facility in the country, producing more than 30 million megawatt-hours of power annually.
