Tuesday, June 20, 2017

New Analysis Begs the Question:  Is Vogtle Project Too Costly to Complete?

USNRC inspecters view Vogtle construction (Photo Credit: Nuclear Regulatory Commission via Flickr) Click to Enlarge.
Last week’s headlines focused on Georgia Power’s newly signed agreement with Toshiba committing (recommitting?) the Japanese parent of bankrupt Westinghouse to pony up $3.68 billion to fund the completion of the long-delayed Vogtle 3 & 4 nuclear power plants.  While that is clearly good news (at least for the moment) for Georgia ratepayers, who could otherwise have been stuck with the bill, it has obscured the real news—that no one knows how much it is going to cost or how long it is going to take to complete the two reactors.

The day before Georgia Power’s headline stealing news, staff and the independent construction monitor filed testimony at the Georgia Public Service Commission covering the latest six months of activity at the site (from July 2016-December 2016, with rollover analysis through April 2017).  Their conclusion?  The project has been a mess since the beginning, and there are still no signs of improvement (although admittedly couched in far more diplomatic/technical language, to which we now turn).

Read more at New Analysis Begs the Question:  Is Vogtle Project Too Costly to Complete?

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