Part 1 of 2 Parts
I have posted before about the new nuclear build at the Vogtle power plant in the state of Georgia. I have not posted recently because construction has been proceeding and major problems have not been reported. However, now I thought it would be a good idea to post an update on how that construction is going. The two new nuclear power reactors being constructed at Vogtle are six years behind schedule and at least sixteen billion dollars over their original budget.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing a sustainable energy economy. They have just published a new report in which they concluded that increasing cost overruns and construction delays at Georgia Power Company’s Vogtle nuclear project threaten to cost the electricity consumers in Georgia billions of dollars for decades to come. In the report, the Institute builds a case that stockholders of the company should take the lead on construction and carry much of the cost instead of the state’s rate payers.
The original estimated cost of the Vogtle project was fourteen billion dollars. The current estimation of the price tag for the two new reactors at the Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle property has rising to over thirty billion dollars. Both rectors will be over six years late in coming online. The Institute researched public records to make their argument including testimony at a Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) hearing last December. The Vogtle plant already has two operating nuclear power reactors. These existing reactors began producing electricity in the 1980s.
Staff and consultants for the GPSC have blamed the high costs and constructions delays for the Vogtle project on Georgia Power (GP). GP is the lead partner in the new construction at the Vogtle plant and they will operate the new reactors when they are completed. GP is a subsidiary of the Southern Company.
GP was warned in 2008 that the unproven reactor design they are using at the Vogtle plant would probably cause cost overruns and construction delays according to David Schlissel. He is the Institute’s Director of Resource Planning and Analysis and the lead author on the new report. He is a lawyer who has been a frequent expert witness in legal proceedings. He said that GP “challenged and the commission disregarded these warnings.”
Tom Krause is a spokesperson for the GPSC. He said that he could not comment directly on the Institute’s new report or on the GPSC’s ongoing quasi-judicial proceedings that are designed to monitor the construction at Vogtle plant. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has described the new Vogtle construction as the largest energy project in Georgia history. The GPSC regulates GP and has a major say in Georgia energy policy.
Krause said that future hearings held when the project is farther along will be held to assist the GPSC determine which of the Vogtle project costs should be allocated to ratepayers as opposed to shareholders. He said, “That will be a very significant docket before the GPSC.”
David Schlissel of the Institute said, “I imagine it will be a knock-down, drag-out fight. I have heard a fair amount of the documentation, and just reading what the GPSC staff has been saying, clearly this project has been mismanaged.”
Please read Part 2 next