In building the nation's first two new nuclear reactors in 30 years, the outlook has been muddy at times.
But the latest snag for Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle expansion project is literally about dirt.
The project's main contractors are suing Georgia Power and the group of cooperative and municipal utilities building the new reactors in Waynesboro. The contractors say the utilities owe money for additional expenses that came from backfilling two excavation sites there.
Westinghouse and a Shaw Group subsidiary billed the utilities for $58 million in extra charges. The utilities have paid $29.3 million of that, according to the contractors, who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court last week for the rest of the unpaid amount.
"When compared to the project whole, the disputed amount is not large," Georgia Power spokesman Mark Williams said. "We will continue to negotiate with Shaw on this very issue."
The contractors have accused the utilities of saying there was enough soil at the site for backfill, which is material excavated from a site and reused for filling. The material must meet standards set by federal nuclear safety regulators.
Westinghouse and Shaw's subsidiary, Stone & Webster, used the utilities' information to prepare their subcontracting bids and create a cost and work schedule, the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, when work began, "there was significantly less suitable material than required and expressly represented by the owners," causing the contractors to spend more time and money.
As a result, the contractors had to "excavate and stockpile a significant amount of additional material and haul it further than anticipated, which significantly increased the contractor's costs and expense of the work," the lawsuit says.
Stone & Webster paid the subcontractors for the additional work, the lawsuit says. The company then billed the utilities for that amount.
Georgia Power considers the conflict to be a normal part of Vogtle's expansion, one of the largest economic development projects in state history. "There are going to be issues that arise on a project of this magnitude," Williams said.
Indeed, the lawsuit is the latest in a series of disputes between the utilities behind the $14 billion project and the contractors involved. An $800 million dispute stemming from delays in getting key regulatory approvals was revealed this spring. The contractors say Georgia Power, as the lead in the consortium building the plant, is responsible for $400 million of that amount. The utility disagrees with that claim.
Georgia Power continues to negotiate with Shaw and Westinghouse over that and additional disputes, known as change orders, some of which have gone unresolved for months.
The outcome of at least some of these disputes could affect customer bills, the project's construction monitor has warned. Georgia Power is responsible for $6.1 billion of the project and says that cost has not changed. Any increase, however, could wind up in customer bills per approval of the state's Public Service Commission.
"Georgia Power is obligated to work diligently to minimize any cost impact on ratepayers," PSC Chairman Tim Echols said. "At some point, the PSC may be asked to consider a court-ordered settlement and decide who should pay for that: ratepayers or Georgia Power. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
Georgia Power customers currently are paying the financing costs of the reactors. Those costs will be replaced by construction costs once the reactors start producing power. That is scheduled for 2016 and 2017.
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