June 08, 2020

By Matt Kempner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There’s potentially bad news for virtually anyone who pays an electric bill in Georgia: Once again, it is “highly unlikely” the long-troubled expansion of Plant Vogtle will be completed when scheduled, say state regulatory staff and independent monitors.

According to their recently submitted written testimony, even if Georgia Power does finish on its latest timeline, the nuclear project will be $1 billion over its current budget, which was already billions of dollars higher than when the project began. Construction costs are expected to increase monthly electric bills of customers of Georgia Power and other Georgia electricity providers, virtually all of which have partnered on the massive plant.

Still, the new findings could understate the challenges of the project, the only commercial nuclear power plant expansion underway in the United States. The authors based their assessments on a period before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the construction site south of Augusta.

Meanwhile, government staff and monitors wrote that they were “shocked” by an “astounding 80%” failure rate for new components installed at the site. The results meant the components, when tested, “did not initially function properly and required some corrective action(s) to function as designed.”

Read More on the original Source: Georgia Vogtle nuclear report