Georgia Power’s expansion of a nuclear power plant faces more “challenges” to meet a schedule already delayed nearly two years, the state’s independent monitor wrote in testimony released Monday
Each additional day of delay in the expansion of Plant Vogtle near Augusta would cost Georgia Power $2 million, according to another expert. At least some of the cost increases could be borne by Georgia Power ratepayers.
The experts did not say how much longer the continuing challenges could delay deliver of the reactors.
The utilities “face many challenges” to put the nuclear units online, the first in late 2017, the second in late 2018, concluded William Jacobs, who was hired as the Georgia Public Service Commission’s monitor on the project. The PSC regulates Georgia Power.
The original projected price tag was about $14 billion. Delays have added hundreds of millions of dollars more, largely tied to an earlier projected delay of 21 months.
But more could be in the making. While Jacobs wrote that the project has made significant progress in the last year, he noted delays have increased in a variety of areas. He cited one part of the project that could be delayed an additional 11 months.
The expansion was slowed by late design changes, late delivery and re-working of poor quality pre-fabricated pieces and ineffective quality assurance, Jacobs and PSC analyst Steven Roetger wrote. Georgia Power leads a consortium of utilities building the reactors.
The consortium “has difficultly forecasting completion of activities,” Jacobs and Roetger wrote. And while steps have been taken to mitigate the delays, “as experience has shown, it is far from certain that mitigation will be successful or even partially successful.”
They particularly raised questions about timely completion of a first-of-its-kind shield building.
Still, even if Vogtle faced years of additional delays, it would be economically better to finish the plant than to build new natural gas plants, according to testimony of Philip Hayet, another PSC consultant.
Georgia Power spokesman Brian Green wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the company is “confident in the commitment from the contractor that construction will remain on the current schedule.” He said Georgia Power is reviewing the new testimony.
Opponents expressed deep concern.
“Ratepayers should expect additional costs for the project,” said Bobby Baker, who voted against the project when he was a PSC commissioner.
“You are looking at at an additional $730 million” cost, assuming the project is delayed another year, said Baker, an attorney who now represents the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Vogtle’s expansion will create enough energy to power an additional 500,000 homes without carbon emissions that have raised concerns about climate change. The project includes the nation’s first newly licensed nuclear power units in three decades. Georgia Power customers are already paying for the expansion’s financing costs as part of their monthly bills.
The PSC will hold a July 1 hearing on the new testimony.
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