WAYNESBORO — The tiny, green road signs entering Burke and Jenkins counties, three hours southeast of Atlanta, say it all: Work Ready.
The jobless rate in Jenkins was 17 percent in December — twice the national average — while Burke posted an abnormally high 11.3 percent unemployment rate. (Metro Atlanta’s, by contrast, was 9.4 percent.)
So last week’s announcement that federal regulators gave their final approval to the $14 billion expansion of the Plant Vogtle nuclear plant in Waynesboro, the Burke County seat, came as more than welcome news.
“It wakes everybody up,” said Linda Sorrow, a customer of the Good Day Cafe in Waynesboro’s historic district. “There’s an excitement in the air for new jobs for our local people.”
At the peak of construction in a few years, more than 4,000 workers will be involved in the nation’s first newly permitted reactors in 33 years, ever since the Three Mile Island accident stymied nuclear construction in the U.S.
Already, 1,700 workers — some from as far away as Texas and Washington — are filling the town’s RV parks and motels, and eating at local restaurants. Other business, such as those providing office supplies, gas and rental housing, also are feeling the impact.
Farmers, looking for ways to make the best out of their unused land, advertise that they have RV space to rent.
And Augusta Technical College has about twice as many applicants for its nuclear engineering technology program, which prepares students to work at Vogtle or other nuclear plants.
Atlanta-based Southern Co. won approval from federal nuclear regulators to expand Plant Vogtle, with twin 1,100-megawatt reactors that are expected to start producing electricity in 2016 and 2017. The first two reactors, which opened in 1987 and 1989, had as many as 14,000 workers on site. But today, with much stricter construction oversight and a different way of building the reactors, that level of hiring is a distant memory.
Still, city and business leaders were anxiously awaiting the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval, so Southern could begin major construction work on the two reactors. For Southern’s major utility, Georgia Power, it meant another step away from its reliance on coal-fired plants, which have come under heavy criticism for their large contribution to air pollution.
For rural Burke County, which is where Vogtle is located, as well as for the surrounding counties like Jenkins, the project couldn’t come at a more opportune time.
“It’s the hardest I’ve seen it in my lifetime,” said former Waynesboro Mayor George DeLoach. “We’re really excited that they [Southern] are coming back, and we feel like we are in a better position to utilize the jobs and get local people the jobs this time.”
For Burke County, the existing power plant and its two operating reactors have cushioned some of the economic blow suffered by nearby Jenkins. Southern, for example, has been a heavy contributor to Burke County’s tax base. DeLoach said that tax money has built schools, a new hospital and a library.
“We’ve put our money in the best possible investment,” he said. “We’re really blessed.”
But nearby Jenkins has not been as fortunate. Jockey International’s textile plant moved overseas in 2006. That started a downward spiral that left the county with no major industry — and that 17 percent jobless rate.
Diane Evans has been unemployed since 2010. She was laid off from the county hospital, then was forced to quit another nursing job after she was in a car accident. Evans said her cousin is at the technical school, training to work at Vogtle, and she’s told him to sign her up.
“I ain’t picky, I just need a job,” said Evans. In the meantime, she goes to the local career center two times a day (sometimes three) to look for jobs or send out her résumé.
Leslie Clements, who works at the Jenkins County career center, said people come in daily, asking about construction jobs at Vogtle. She’s optimistic about the additional opportunities the plant could bring.
“That’s more people in the area, more people who have to find a place to live,” she said.
Those who are coming from out of town usually stop in one of the area motels for a night or two, trying to get their bearings. Then they likely will head to an RV park or find a house to rent.
“There are a lot of people coming in. They don’t have anything right when they get here, but then they find something that is permanent,” said Tony Maness, an executive with Jameson Inn.
If workers come in an RV, then it won’t take long to find a place. New RV parks continue to crop up near Vogtle.
“In small areas where there’s not much, I think it’s something that we can get excited about,” said Sheila Jenkins, with Sardis Stables Apartments & RV Park. “All of the cities that are around Vogtle, I think they will benefit from that.”
Realtor Janice Morris said she’s seen an uptick in homes being rented. She expects those rentals to change to sales once some of the out-of-town workers are able to sell their previous homes.
Morris, a Burke County native who has been in real estate for 27 years, worked at Plant Vogtle while it first was being built in the 1970s. She wants her children to get jobs and stay in Burke County, and knows Vogtle may be the key to that.
On the other hand, she warns others that the Vogtle project won’t bring the 10,000-plus jobs that it did before.
“So many people have not grasped the fact that [the previous] construction ... was so different. We don’t need the construction force that we needed last time,” she said.
That’s because the large module pieces for the reactor will be fabricated at The Shaw Group’s plant in Lake Charles, La. After they are fabricated, they will be brought to Plant Vogtle and assembled there.
Some parts will come from overseas, as well.
“When they were built before, that was a very different process,” said Gentry Brann with Shaw.
Comparing large construction projects
● Plant Vogtle: Estimated $14 billion investment
● Hartsfield-Jackson international terminal: $1.4 billion
● Kia auto plant: $1.2 billion
● Proposed Falcons open-air stadium downtown: $700 million
● Philips Arena: $141 million
● Turner Field, originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium: $209 million
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