ATLANTA: Georgia Power announced today the latest milestone at the Vogtle nuclear expansion - the placement of additional shield building panels for Unit 3 on Dec. 4.
The shield building provides structural support to the containment cooling water supply and protects the containment vessel, which houses the reactor vessel and associated equipment. The shield building is made of steel and concrete in what is known as a steel composite design that is about 150 feet high and about three feet thick. With this week's placement, nearly 80 of the 336 total shield building panels have been placed for Units 3 and 4.
Construction has continued uninterrupted at the Vogtle site following Westinghouse's bankruptcy in March with all Vogtle co-owners (Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities) working together to maintain the project's momentum. Southern Nuclear, the nuclear operating subsidiary which operates the existing units in Georgia, is now the project manager at the site with global construction firm Bechtel managing daily construction efforts.
Click here to view a video of a 28,000-pound shield building panel being lifted into place for Vogtle Unit 3. In addition to new videos posted regularly on the Georgia Power YouTube Channel, follow the progress from the site with new photos added each month in the Plant Vogtle 3 & 4 Online Photo Gallery.
Vogtle Project Review Underway
On August 31, Georgia Power filed a recommendation with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to continue construction of the Vogtle nuclear expansion supported by all of the project's other co-owners. The recommendation was based on the results of a comprehensive schedule, cost-to-complete and cancellation assessment launched following the Westinghouse bankruptcy. The Georgia PSC is reviewing the recommendation to move forward and is expected to make a decision regarding the future of the Vogtle 3 and 4 project as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) proceeding. Read the 17th VCM Report here and recent comments from Georgia Power Chairman, President & CEO Paul Bowers to the Georgia PSC here.
From the beginning of the Vogtle expansion, Georgia Power has worked to pursue all available benefits for customers and minimize the impact of the new units on electric bills. In addition to this week's announcement that the Vogtle co-owners have reached an agreement to receive 100 percent of parent guarantee funds available from Toshiba (approximately $3.2 billion) by Dec. 15, 2017, the company recently announced a conditional commitment of approximately $1.67 billion in additional loan guarantees for the project from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Today, after including anticipated customer benefits from federal production tax credits, interest savings from loan guarantees from the DOE and the fuel savings of nuclear energy, the projected peak rate impact to Georgia Power retail customers is approximately 10 percent, with 5 percent related to the project already in rates - well below original projections of approximately 12 percent.
Final approval and issuance of the additional loan guarantees by the DOE cannot be assured and are subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements, completion of due diligence by the DOE, receipt of any necessary regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of other conditions.
