Georgia Power works on nuclear expansion

By David Markiewicz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WAYNESBORO – Not much stands out in a drive across the piney flatlands of rural eastern Georgia, just below Augusta, this side of South Carolina.

A few cows graze in an open field. A trailer home or two and a small house sit back from nearly empty roads.

Then, just before the Savannah River, they appear: the twin cooling towers of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, each one 548 feet tall, billowing puffy clouds of water vapor, like steam from a cup of hot coffee. Nearby, though much less visible, are the two nuclear reactors that actually produce the plant’s electricity.

The serene, if somewhat eerie setting seems appropriate for Vogtle. The larger of Georgia’s two nuclear power plants, it has been churning out power without fanfare or significant safety incident since the first of its two units opened in 1987. Now, like the nuclear power industry itself, Vogtle is back in the public eye.

If Vogtle’s owners, the largest of which is Georgia Power, have their way, two new nuclear reactors will be built adjacent to the existing ones. They would be completed in 2016 and 2017, respectively, at a cost estimated at $14 billion. Georgia Power’s share of the tab: $4.5 billion for the construction, plus $1.6 billion in financing charges, the company said.

While nuclear plants are planned elsewhere in the country, the proposed units at Vogtle could be the first new facilities built in the U.S. in decades. Nuclear construction ground to a halt in the U.S. in the wake of the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania 30 years ago, and rising costs. The planned expansion has drawn opposition, although much of it appears to come from outside of Waynesboro.

The stakes at Vogtle are considerable for all parties involved. First, there is the matter of cost for Georgia Power’s 2.3 million customers statewide, about half of whom live in metro Atlanta.

To fund the project, they will pay 9 percent more on their electric bills. That increase will be phased in over seven years, starting in 2011. It will last the life of the plant, but is expected to gradually decline over that time, the company said.

Oglethorpe Power, a power supply cooperative which owns 30 percent of Vogtle, said its construction and financing costs for the expansion will be $4.2 billion. Vogtle’s other owners are the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, which provides power to 49 communities in Georgia, and Dalton Utilities.

Georgia Power customers get about 18 percent of their electricity from nuclear power, more than half of which is supplied by Plant Vogtle. The rest comes from the Edwin I. Hatch nuclear facility near Baxley in southeast Georgia.

That production is not unimportant. The demand for electricity in the Southeast is projected by one source to increase 29 percent by 2030, and coal, which provides 75 percent of Georgia Power’s supply, is under fire from environmentalists for polluting the air with carbon dioxide emissions. Proposed caps on the amount of carbon emissions threaten the future use of coal, making the development of other power sources critical.

Nuclear power, proponents say, is cleaner than coal, an attractive option for a planet going green and fearful of global warming. For Georgia Power owner Southern Co., it’s especially enticing, given what the company says are the limited prospects for alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass.

The percentage of Georgia Power’s electricity that comes from nuclear power won’t increase with the addition of two new units at Vogtle, the utility said, because of the increased demand and because of its greater use of natural gas. Nationwide, about 20 percent of electric power comes from nuclear.

The idea of a Vogtle expansion has been criticized by those who say it’s too costly and too risky. They cite the threat of a terrorist attack on the plant as well as the potential for an accident. And they worry about how to safely store radioactive spent nuclear fuel in the future.

Nuclear energy proponents say reactors are built to withstand natural and man-made calamities and that plant safety and security measures protect against most potential disasters. For now, used nuclear fuel is being stored safely at plant sites, they said.

Sara Barczak, safe energy director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the proposed expansion of Vogtle “is not a slam dunk,” even though construction crews already are busy turning dirt.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has raised questions about the safety of the design of the reactor proposed for Vogtle’s new units, and that, opponents said, could stymie the project. The NRC said it has concerns with the strength of the reactor’s shield building and its ability to withstand severe weather events and other possible impacts. It asked Westinghouse to modify its design.

There’s also the specter of cost overruns. Vogtle was projected to cost $2.66 billion when construction began in 1977, the company said. The final tab was about $9 billion.

If overruns occur on Units 3 and 4, they will be reviewed by the Georgia Public Service Commission which would determine if the cost should be passed on to customers.

Such matters don’t appear to be a huge concern for many of the people living and working in the area, however. Residents and officials in surrounding Burke County and in nearby Waynesboro mostly root for the expansion.

That wasn’t the case in the 1970s, when the first two units at Vogtle were proposed.

“There was a lot of uncertainty then,” said Waynesboro Mayor George DeLoach, 69, who held the office from 1980 through 1992 before reclaiming it.

“There was a lot of skepticism about nuclear power and concern over the danger of it.”

That’s changed, he said, because of the safety track record at Vogtle and across the U.S. nuclear industry.

There also are economic benefits.

Vogtle Units 1 and 2 brought in 14,000 construction jobs at the peak, and created 800 permanent jobs. If the two new units are built, there will be about 3,000 new construction jobs and 800 additional permanent positions, Georgia Power said.

The number of construction jobs is down this time because much of the work is being done off-site, with finished materials brought in.

Then there are the property tax revenues. Georgia Power said it paid about $12.4 million in 2008 to Burke County, which was primarily split by the county and its schools. Oglethorpe Power said it paid $9.6 million in property taxes to Burke County in 2008.

“It’s been quite a salvation for us,” said DeLoach.

Officials and residents point to a low millage rate and public schools which boast new facilities and low student-to-teacher ratios, both of which are uncommon for rural districts.

Les Peel, business manager for the county school system, said of Vogtle, “Initially, we didn’t want it. Now it’s different. Now, we’re partners.”

Ashley Roberts, executive director of the Burke County Chamber of Commerce, said she sees “overwhelming support” from the community for the planned expansion, and not just because of jobs and tax revenues. There are also the civic and charitable contributions from Georgia Power and its employees, who donate time and money, she said.

Roberts refuted the suggestion that residents are trading safety for economic gain.

“It’s not that we’re blinded by the economics,” she said. “We live here. Our children are here. We wouldn’t be supporting this if we didn’t feel safe and comfortable. It’s just not a concern for us because of the record of Plant Vogtle.”

Annie Laura Stephens, a longtime local resident who opposes expansion, said resistance is less this time.

“They [Georgia Power] pay so much tax, and there are such good schools, so the locals are not really saying anything,” Stephens said. “Back then, they were more against it.”

Recently, the NRC held a meeting at a local school and invited citizens to ask questions about the expansion. A tiny audience showed up, with most being nuclear or utility industry employees.

The strongest opposition to the proposed expansion has come from organizations, including those that are intervening in the NRC licensing process for Vogtle.

Those are Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Center for Sustainable Cost, Savannah Riverkeeper, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and Women’s Action for New Directions.

Delays in the project, caused by design changes, legal battles and other issues, could drive up the cost and maybe even kill it, opponents suggest.

“There are roadblocks ahead that could be show-stoppers,” said Barczak of Southern Alliance.

Georgia Power noted that it has received an early site permit (which environmental groups are appealing) and limited work authorization allowing it to perform safety related construction before getting its construction operating license.

“There are no aspects of this process that should delay our commercial operation dates of 2016 for Unit 3 and 2017 for Unit 4,” the company said.

The utility said it expects to get the construction operating license “in the 2011 time frame.”

That prospect thrills David Jones, site vice president for the two new units for Southern Nuclear, Southern Co.’s nuclear operating company.

“This,” Jones said, “is a dream come true. These are exciting times around here.”

How nuclear power plants work

Power plants generate electricity by heating water. The steam fans the blades of a giant turbine which spins the shaft of a generator. Electrical current created inside the generator is sent to a network of wires known as the electric grid and then delivered to consumers.

While fossil fuel plants generate steam by burning coal, gas or oil, nuclear plants use ceramic pellets made from uranium, but they don’t burn anything. The pellets are arranged in long tubes inside the reactor. Neutrons are allowed to hit the atoms in the pellets, splitting them, creating heat. Control rods that keep neutrons from hitting and splitting atoms are inserted in varying numbers through bundles of the fuel tubes to regulate the fission.

How we got the story

The planned expansion of Plant Vogtle stands to have a major, long-term impact on electricity production and costs in Georgia. For this story, staff writer David Markiewicz traveled to Burke County to tour the plant and to interview employees, county, municipal and school officials and residents to get their views on the project’s merits.