ATLANTA.- A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new US reactor built from scratch in decades.
Georgia Power Co. announced Monday that Unit 3 in Plant Vogtle southeast of Augusta, has completed testing and is now reliably sending power to the grid.
At its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity, Unit 3 can power 500,000 homes and businesses. Utilities in Georgia, Florida and Alabama are receiving power.
Nuclear power now accounts for about 25% of generation at Georgia Power, the largest unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co..
A fourth reactor is also nearing completion on the site, where two previous reactors have been generating electricity for decades. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday that radioactive fuel could be loaded into Unit 4 , a step that is expected to take place before the end of September. Unit 4 is scheduled to enter commercial operation in March.
The third and fourth reactors were originally supposed to cost $14 billion, but are now on track to cost their owners $31 billion. That doesn’t include the $3.7 billion original contractor Westinghouse paid the owners to get off the project. That brings the total spending to nearly $35 billion.
The third reactor was supposed to start generating power in 2016 when construction began in 2009.
Vogtle is important because government officials and some utility companies are again considering nuclear power to alleviate climate change by generating electricity without burning natural gas, coal and oil.
“This project shows how new nuclear power can and will play a critical role in achieving a clean energy future for America,” Southern Co. CEO Chris Womack said in a statement. “Putting this unit safely into service is a recognition of the hard work and dedication of our teams at Southern Company and the thousands of additional workers who have helped build that future at this site.”
In Georgia, almost all electricity customers will pay for Vogtle. Georgia Power currently owns 45.7% of the reactors. Smaller shares are owned by Oglethorpe Power Corp., which provides electricity to member-owned cooperatives, the Georgia Municipal Power Authority and the city of Dalton. Oglethorpe and MEAG plan to sell power to cooperatives and municipal utilities in Georgia, as well as Jacksonville, Florida, and parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers are already paying part of the cost of financing and elected public service commissioners have approved a monthly fee increase $3.78 per month for residential customers as soon as the third unit begins generating power. That could affect bills in August, two months after residential customers saw an increase of $16 a month. to pay higher fuel costs .
Commissioners will decide later who pays for the rest of Vogtle’s costs, including the fourth reactor.
FOUNTAIN: With information from AP
