CEAC-2022-06-June

News
Georgia Nuclear Plant’s Cost Now
Forecast to Top $30 Billion
By Jeff Amy | Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — A nuclear power plant being built in Georgia
is now projected to cost its owners more than $30 billion.
A May 6 financial report from one of the owners clearly
pushed the cost of Plant Vogtle near Augusta past that milestone,
bringing its total cost to $30.34 billion
That amount doesn’t count the $3.68 billion that original
contractor Westinghouse paid to the owners after going
bankrupt, which would bring total spending to more than
$34 billion.
Vogtle is the only nuclear plant under construction in the
United States, and its costs could deter other utilities from
building such plants, even though they generate electricity
without releasing climate-changing carbon emissions.
The latest increase in the budget, by the Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia, wasn’t a surprise after lead owner
Georgia Power Co. announced delays and $920 million in
overruns on March 3. Georgia Power’s costs only cover the
45.7 percent of the plant it owns, meaning that the cooperatives
and municipal utilities that own the majority of the
two-reactor project later update their financial projections as
well.
MEAG, which owns 22.7 percent of Vogtle and provides
power to city-owned utilities, raised its total cost forecast, including
capital spending and borrowing costs, to $7.8 billion
from the previous level of $7.5 billion.
Oglethorpe Power Corp., which provides power to 38 cooperatives
in Georgia, owns 30 percent of Vogtle. In March, its
cost projects bumped up by $250 million to $8.5 billion.
The city of Dalton, which owns 1.6 percent, estimated its cost
at $240 million in 2021. It hasn’t released a public update.
The municipal utility in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as some
other municipal utilities and cooperatives in Florida and Ala-
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry speaks during a press event at the construction site of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating
Plant, Friday, March 22, 2019 in Waynesboro, Ga. Georgia Power Co.’s parent company announced more cost overruns and schedule delays to the project
on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
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| Chief Engineer