COVID-19 is impacting the fee and workforce schedule for the enlargement of Units three and four on the Vogtle nuclear plant within the US, however Georgia Power says that it’s nonetheless planning to place the mission into service by November 2021.
In a submitting with the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC), the lead proprietor for the one US nuclear building mission ongoing testified that it has incurred about $19 million in direct prices associated to persevering with work in the course of the pandemic.
This price is lower than three % of the general $701 million in building and capital expenditures between January 1 and July 30, in keeping with the testimony.
“While the pandemic continues to impression the mission, based mostly on present data and projections, we consider that the mission will be capable of deliver Unit three and Unit four on-line by the regulatory-approved in-service dates of November 2021 and November 2022,” states Jeremiah Haswell, the Georgia Power mission oversight director for the Vogtle enlargement, within the submitting with the GPSC.
Georgia Power leads a group of 4 utilities offering funding for the estimated $25 billion enlargement. The others are Dalton Utilities, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Oglethorpe Power.
The state submitting additionally underlined quite a few milestones reached in the course of the newest building reporting section. The replace reported that building is 94% full on Unit three because it strikes towards an anticipated November 2021 in-service date.
Last week, crews accomplished chilly hydro testing on Unit three. The subsequent main transfer is scorching practical testing someday in March 2021, the final important step earlier than gasoline loading and in-service commissioning. Fuel loading might occur as early as April.
The Waynesboro Georgia website will generate greater than 2,200MW of carbon-free capability as soon as on-line. The plant homes two Westinghouse AP-1000 (superior passive) nuclear reactors.
Bechtel is the lead engineering, procurement and building (EPC) contractor on the mission. Vogtle three and four enlargement has overcome quite a few roadblocks alongside its practically decade-long path, together with price overruns and the chapter of preliminary EPC contractor Westinghouse.
Nuclear vitality at the moment accounts for about 19% of the U.S. electrical energy capability combine and greater than half of home carbon-free energy.