| Nuclear power
Vogtle AP1000 project: the end is in sight, at last
Georgia Power’s ambition and that of its parent company, Southern Company, to build two AP1000 units at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site has survived massive cost and schedule overruns, to say nothing of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of its main contractor and technology provider, Westinghouse. But Vogtle 3 is now in commercial operation and unit 4 is not far behind. The Vogtle AP1000 construction saga is finally reaching a successful conclusion and its “impact is much bigger than a single project”, suggests Brendan Bechtel
Left: Vogtle 4 (nearest) and Vogtle 3, with Vogtle 1&2 in the background (photo: Georgia Power)
Above: Inside Vogtle 4 containment during fuelling activities (photo: Georgia Power)
July 31 2023 saw Vogtle 3, the USA’s first Generation III+ advanced nuclear unit, a Westinghouse AP1000 pressurised water reactor – installed capacity 1114 MWe – enter commercial operation. This was ten years on from completing placement of first nuclear concrete, on 14 March 2013.
It is the first new nuclear reactor to start up in the United States since the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar 2 was commissioned in 2016.
As of 17 August, a second AP1000 at the site, Vogtle unit 4, had started initial fuel load after completing hot functional testing in May in “record-setting time”, with commercial operation expected in the fourth quarter of 2023 or early next year. There will then be four Westinghouse PWRs in operation at the site, with an installed capacity of some 4600 MW of “reliable, carbon-free electricity”, establishing Vogtle as the largest producer of electricity in the USA, surpassing the 4210 MWe Palo Verde plant in Arizona. The first two reactors at the Vogtle site, which is located near Waynesboro, Georgia, with a combined installed capacity of 2430 MW, came on line in the late 1980s. They have undergone licence renewal and can now operate until 2047 and 2049, respectively, which is 20 years beyond the 40 years of the original licences.
Vogtle unit 4, employing advanced nuclear fuel manufactured at Westinghouse’s Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina, will be
Gigawatts 10
0 2 4 6 8
Vogtle unit 3 2023
Watts Bar unit 2 2016
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Energy Information Administration plot of US nuclear power capacity additions, by year of initial operation (1970–2023), GW
Most US nuclear reactors were built in the 20-year period from 1970 to 1990. Prior to Vogtle unit 3, the last nuclear reactor to start up in the United States was TVA’s Watts Bar unit 2 in Tennessee. Construction on Watts Bar 2 (Westinghouse PWR) began in 1973 but was suspended by TVA in 1985. Work resumed in 2007, and the reactor finally came online in 2016.
With 95 881 MW of nuclear installed capacity at 93 operating commercial reactors, the United States has more nuclear power than any other country, producing nearly 20% of the country’s electricity.
Recent legislation, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, supports US nuclear energy as part of a clean energy, zero-carbon generating portfolio.
Source: US Energy Information Administration. Note: Data excludes capacity retired before 2002
www.modernpowersystems.com | September 2023 | 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45
