Georgia Power, a subsidiary of the US utility Southern Company, filed a recommendation with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to continue the construction of the Vogtle nuclear power project (Georgia). The document includes all aspects of the project and a comprehensive economic analysis, taking into account the schedule, the completion costs, Toshiba's future payments, loan guarantees from the US Department of Energy as well as the alternatives such as converting the units to gas-fired generation or abandoning them. The project completion total costs are likely to top US$25bn.
The Georgia PSC is expected to review Georgia Power's recommendation and make a decision regarding the future of the project as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) proceeding. The project co-owners, namely Dalton Utilities, Oglethorpe Power and Dalton Utilities also support the recommendation even though Oglethorpe Power seeks additional funding for the project. The company has already secured a US$3bn loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DoE) but now requests US$1.6bn of additional support. Georgia Power also schedules the Vogtle-3 and Vogtle-4 units to reach commercial operation in November 2021 and November 2022, respectively. If endorsed, the construction works of the two nuclear reactors will thrive in spite of the Westinghouse bankruptcy in March 2017.
The Vogtle plant has two operating pressurized water reactors manufactured by Westinghouse rated 1,215 MW each, which were commissioned in 1987 and 1989. It is jointly owned by Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30%), the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7%) and Dalton Utilities (1.6%). As per the expansion project, Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear will build two AP1000 units, Vogtle-3 and Vogtle-4, rated 1,117 MW each.
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