Unit 3 at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, went online Monday. The reactor is the first nuclear power unit constructed from scratch in the U.S. in over 30 years.
The facility, also known as Plant Vogtle, has two other older reactors that went online for commercial operation in the late 1980s. A fourth unit is under construction, and Georgia Power estimates it will be finished and online in the fourth quarter of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.
Once Unit 4 is complete, Plant Vogtle will become the largest nuclear power plant in the United States.
Georgia Power, a Southern Company subsidiary that has almost half ownership of the facility, estimates that at its full 1,100-megawatt output, Unit 3 will provide power to 500,000 households in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
The company estimates that Plant Vogtle Unit 3 will provide power to those customers for 60 to 80 years.
Southern Company exalts Plant Vogtle as a key clean energy asset.
“Today is a historic day for the state of Georgia, Southern Company and the entire energy sector. … With Unit 3 completed and Unit 4 in the final stages of construction and testing, this project shows just how new nuclear can and will play a critical role in achieving a clean energy future,” Southern Company CEO Chris Womack said in a statement.
Plant Vogtle Unit 3 is the second such nuclear reactor to go online in the U.S. in the 21st century. A unit at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant went online in 2016. That unit began construction in 1972 before taking a 22-year pause in building from 1985 to 2007.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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