Unit 3 of the Vogtle nuclear power plant (US) reaches first criticality

Georgia Power has announced that the 1,117 MW third unit of the Vogtle nuclear power plant, located near Augusta in Georgia (United States), has reached initial criticality. The Vogtle nuclear expansion project consists of two AP1000 reactors of 1,117 MW each (1,250 MW gross) on the site of the Vogtle nuclear power plant, currently composed of two 1,229 MW gross reactors commissioned in 1987 and 1989. The third unit is expected to enter commercial operations in May or June 2023, and the fourth unit in December 2023. The new units are owned by Georgia Power (45.7%), an affiliate of Southern Company, and cooperatives and municipal utilities, including Oglethorpe Power (OGP, 30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG, 22.7%) and the city of Dalton (1.6%).

Vogtle-3 and Vogtle-4 are the first new nuclear reactors built in the United States in the last three decades, and the first AP1000 reactors built in the country. Nuclear accounted for 19% of the US' total generation in 2021. There are 92 nuclear reactors currently in operation for a total capacity of about 99 GW (2022). In 2020, NextEra Energy shut down its Duane Arnold 600 MW reactor. Entergy decommissioned the second and third Indian Point reactors in 2020 and 2021, respectively, for a total of 2.3 GW; the group also permanently shut down the 800 MW Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan in May 2022.