Georgia Nuclear Plant Vogtle Cost
Elba Pareja-Gallagher
Sustainability consultant & Keynote speaker & trainer | Inclusion expert | ShowMe50% women leading 501 (c)(3) | UPS (Retired). I ??getting into good trouble!
I live in Georgia. In May, I will be taking a tour of Plant Vogtle, one of two Nuclear plants in the state (the other one is Hatch). I love being in the field. Seeing the plant firsthand will help me better understand and advocate for clean energy in all its forms. Vogtle has been quite controversial. Before I go, I wanted to learn more about one, if not THE biggest controversies – its cost.
Georgia Energy Basics
First, a snapshot of Georgia energy from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
OK, side note, since my name is Elba… I didn’t even know there was an Elba island in Georgia (named after the island of Elba in Italy). ?Elba, Georgia, is a facility for the import and export of liquefied natural gas!
Costs of Vogtle
There are two nuclear reactors approaching full operation - Units 3 and 4. Georgia Power says Unit 3 could be operational in June, pushed back from April. Unit 4 will operate between November and March 2024.
Construction started in 2012, with an estimated $14 billion cost. According to the Associated Press, in February 2023, the total cost of the project to build the third and fourth reactors will end up costing well over $30 billion.
What caused the cost overruns? I wanted to find specific examples. Here are just a few of the reasons I identified while reading:
领英推荐
Bottom line
Some utilities in Florida and Alabama are obligated to buy power from Vogtle. I can see how they would be alarmed about the enormous cost overruns. Not to mention local electricity rate payers (like me) who will pay more. Many citizens (me too) wonder if this clean energy was worth the cost (probably not). But we are where we are. So close to the finish line.
I hope that expert advocates out there are pushing for needed reforms to prevent anything like this in the future. In the meantime, I will listen attentively and respectfully during my site visit to absorb as much as I can about nuclear energy pros and cons.
Sources & further reading
EIA Nuclear generation by state: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/1?agg=2,0,1&fuel=08&geo=g&sec=g&freq=M&start=200101&end=202301&ctype=linechart<ype=pin&rtype=s&maptype=0&rse=0&pin=&datecode=202301
AP: Georgia nuclear plant again delayed at cost of $200M more: ?https://apnews.com/article/georgia-power-co-southern-climate-and-environment-business-3b1d6c65353c6a65b1ccfddede753ab7
Continued Mismanagement of Plant Vogtle Nuclear Units 3 & 4 will Cost Ratepayers: https://cleanenergy.org/blog/plant-vogtle-update-on-nuclear-units-3-4/
Georgia cooperatives move to freeze nuclear costs at $8.1B: https://apnews.com/article/georgia-power-co-atlanta-augusta-climate-and-environment-979a72d8e8626bce1341be0d69dba219
Georgia Power, Vogtle 3 and 4: https://www.georgiapower.com/company/plant-vogtle.html
Disclaimer: Sustainability Navigator is Elba Pareja-Gallagher’s personal ESG newsletter published every Monday. Views expressed are her own. Corrections and respectful feedback are always welcome.
On Sabbatical
1 年Thank you for the post- I wish I could join the tour with you! My contacts within Southern Nuclear mentioned the time and cost of regulatory approvals of the piping/valve/pump areas of the design as a contributor to the time/cost over runs (I won't belabor the details here except to say it is a maddening Kafka-esque process of approvals and re-approvals...).
Semi-retired Energy Consultant at Independent Energy Consultant
1 年Thank you Elba Pareja-Gallagher for sharing this information on the power plant and for the sources of other relevant or related information.
I am creative and entrepreneurial with proven experience solving a diverse mix of problems. I build trust with customers and prospects. Lover of detail. Believer in process excellence and kaizen.
1 年South Carolina walked away from a nearly identical plant after $9 billion in spending. https://theintercept.com/2019/02/06/south-caroline-green-new-deal-south-carolina-nuclear-energy/ At the time SC seemed crazy but now it looks like a brilliant move.
As for costs: Anti nuclear forces,esp in the US, have done everything they could to raise the costs of building a nuclear power plant, thru litigation and demanding regulations. From your list of costs: ? Lots of bolts originally tightened had not been inspected at the time. Each had to be loosened and then retightened to the specific torque value and witnessed by inspectors. I can only speculate where these bolts were. Trained pipe fitters and assemblers know how to bolt. Does every bolt need to be witnessed?? It wasn’t on cars when I worked on an assembly line. Is it done for airplanes? There are products- ie in the building of submarines in Groton CT where every weld is x rayed; and considering the isolation and extreme environment subs operate, that level of process documentation may well be warranted. Modern tools can be set to bolt to a targeted torque, is the level of oversight that’s mentioned having to be redone justified? It certainly adds to costs. That plant should run for 60-80 years with timely maintenance. And will provide reliable power- a lot less expensive than freezing to death when renewables fail and can’t provide life saving energy. Have fun on the tour! I’m sure you’ll be impressed w safety.