Southern Co. agrees to federal loan for nuke expansion

By Margaret Newkirk

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta-based Southern Co. and its partners in building two nuclear reactors near Augusta have agreed to accept $8.3 billion in loans first offered by the federal government in February.

The announcement comes after months of negotiations, largely over how much Southern would have to pay upfront for the loans.

The company has negotiated a range, spokesman Jason Cuevas said, which won’t be firmed up until the company gets a construction and operating permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year.

“This is another step foward on the road to nuclear power playing a prominent role in American’s energy future,” Southern Chief Executive David Ratcliffe said in a statement.

Southern negotiated the loans on behalf of its Georgia Power subsidiary, which is building and will partly own the new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Waynesboro.

Georgia Power Chief Executive Mike Garrett said the loans will mean significant savings for its customers because they are cheaper than private loans.

Southern’s portion of the loan is $3.4 billion, reflecting Georgia Power’s 45.7 percent ownership in the planned reactors.

Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities are the other partners. The utilities already own two nuclear reactors at the site of the planned new ones.

The loans will come from the Federal Financing Bank, and Georgia Power preliminary estimates show they will save customers millions in interest costs.

The two new reactors are expected to begin commercial operations in 2016 and 2017.

Nuclear opponents reacted quickly to Southern Co.’s announcement.

“Southern Co., through its subsidiary Georgia Power, managed last year to get customers in Georgia to carry the burden of this project,” through a pre-payment fee on their bills, said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, in an emailed statement. “Now Southern Co. and its partners are turning to the trough that is the U.S. treasury.”

Southern’s Cuevas said the loan “is an endorsement by the Obama administration of the role nuclear power will play in the nation’s energy future.”