Vogtle | EnergyNorthwest.com

Southern Announces Delay in Testing at Vogtle

March 21, 2021

The post Southern Announces Delay in Testing at Vogtle appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Southern Co. has announced another delay in hot functional testing for the first unit of its two-unit expansion at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia.

The utility in a March 19 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said its subsidiary Georgia Power “now expects the start of hot functional testing for Unit 3 will be delayed into April.” The filing said that Southern Nuclear, the nuclear power subsidiary of Southern Co., “continues to target a November 2021 in-service date for Unit 3,” though it also said “the schedule is challenged and… a delay is likely and could add one month or more to the Unit 3 in-service date.”

Georgia Power said it estimates delays beyond November “would result in additional base capital costs for Georgia Power of approximately $ 25 million per month.” The project, first approved by state regulators in 2009, with an original estimated cost of about $ 14 billion, now projects to enter commercial operation about five years after initial expectations.…

Vogtle Receives First Shipment of Nuclear Fuel

December 11, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Vogtle Receives First Shipment of Nuclear Fuel appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia reached another milestone as Georgia Power received the first shipment of nuclear fuel for Unit 3 of the project.

The utility on Dec. 9 said receipt of the fuel follows completion and inspection of several construction areas at the site in Waynesboro, Georgia. Those areas included the fuel vault and spent fuel pool. The fuel handling area of Unit 3 has been turned over to the operations staff; Georgia Power said the Vogtle site has “implemented specific and comprehensive policies, procedures and security measures to safely receive, handle and store the nuclear fuel.”

The Vogtle expansion is adding two, 1,100-MW AP1000 reactors to the nuclear plant, where two other reactors—Units 1 and 2—have operated since 1987 and 1989, respectively. The team leading the expansion, a project which would provide the U.S. with the country’s first new large-scale nuclear reactors in more than 30 years, earlier this year successfully completed the pre-startup review process conducted by the World Association of Nuclear Operators.…

More Delays for Vogtle Plant Expansion

October 26, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post More Delays for Vogtle Plant Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Georgia Power said it still expects to meet a state regulatory deadline for commercial operation of the first of two new reactors at its Vogtle nuclear plant expansion. The utility, though, on Oct. 22 acknowledged it has pushed back some aspects of the project, including delaying the loading of nuclear fuel for the first reactor another four months, to April 2021.

The utility in its latest project filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) said it now expects to conduct an important system test at the site three months later than outlined in its previous plan, which was filed in July. It’s the third delay this year for the hot functional testing procedure. Georgia Power said that test could now occur in January 2021, but could be moved back to March of next year. The utility in the Oct. 22 filing said fuel loading also may be delayed to mid-year 2021.…

Georgia Power: New Vogtle Unit Still Set for 2021 Startup

September 5, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Georgia Power: New Vogtle Unit Still Set for 2021 Startup appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The target in-service dates for two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site in Georgia remain November 2021 and November 2022, respectively, Georgia Power said in a filing this week with the state’s Public Utility Commission.

The utility on Aug. 31, in its “Twenty-third Semi-annual Vogtle Construction Monitoring Report,” said work on the two-unit expansion at the site in Waynesboro, Georgia, is progressing on pace despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest report, also known as the VCM (Vogtle Construction Monitoring), said cold hydro testing of Unit 3 (Figure 1) is set for this month, with hot functional testing planned to occur during the fourth quarter of this year.

Fuel loading of Unit 3 also is planned by year-end. The utility said that under an “aggressive work site plan,” Unit 3 could enter commercial operation as soon as May 2021, though the regulatory-approved date remains six months later.…

With Vogtle Completion in Sight, Southern Company Targets Net-Zero Carbon Emissions

May 31, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post With Vogtle Completion in Sight, Southern Company Targets Net-Zero Carbon Emissions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Fresh off the announcement that the final module for Vogtle Unit 3 was placed at the nuclear expansion project in Georgia, Southern Company said on May 27 that it was setting “a long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.”

The announcement was made during Southern Company’s annual stockholders meeting, which was held as an online event this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also reaffirmed its intermediate goal of a 50% reduction of GHG emissions from 2007 levels by 2030.

“I continue to be confident that we are prepared and well-positioned to meet the needs of our customers, employees, communities and investors well into the future and will succeed in the transition to a net-zero carbon future,” Tom Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, said in a statement. “As always, we are committed to providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to the customers we are privileged to serve.”…

Is Vogtle Nuclear Expansion on Schedule? CEO Sounds Confident

May 2, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Is Vogtle Nuclear Expansion on Schedule? CEO Sounds Confident appeared first on POWER Magazine.

“We still expect to meet the November regulatory-approved in-service dates for both Units 3 and 4,” Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said during the company’s first quarter earnings call on April 30. The in-service dates he was referring to are November 2021 and November 2022 for Units 3 and 4, respectively, at the Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Georgia. The project is owned by four partners: Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corp. (OPC, 30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power, 22.7%), and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).

Furthermore, Fanning said site managers continue to believe they can hit target dates set in the company’s “Aggressive Site Workplan,” which are May 2021 and May 2022, respectively. “Is it riskier than it was before? Yeah. But it’s still a reasonable objective; otherwise, we wouldn’t stick with it,” said Fanning.

Significant Progress Made on Both New Vogtle Units

About two weeks ago, Southern Company announced it would reduce the workforce on the project by 20% in an effort to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.…