“The failure of the uncompleted V.C. Summer Units #2 and #3 ($10 billion), and the continuing woes at Vogtle, have marked the complete failure of Congress to create a ‘nuclear renaissance’ through the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The act provided for up to $8 billion each in ‘loan guarantees’ for new nuclear plants.”

“Nuclear ‘loan guarantees,’ it turns out, is a politically constructed term to cover the fact that the ‘guarantees’ are actually Treasury funds, and loan payments are made to the Treasury.”

The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. And Southern Company announces further delays in the startup of Georgia Power’s Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the only nuclear power plant under construction in the U.S.

In its annual financial report issued Feb. 16, Southern said it will push back the startup date for Unit 3 of the two-unit, Westinghouse AP-1000 reactor project to May or June of this year. …

The pile of missing or incomplete documents added up to a delay of three to six months, Southern said. That additional time is costing $920 million…. While Georgia Power customers have been bearing the brunt of Vogtle’s costs, Southern said in a regulatory filing that … “[the] incremental costs associated with these provisions will not be recovered from retail customers.”

Plant Vogtle’s latest move highlights the nuclear industry’s chief troubles with building large, baseload reactors: safety and cost. (Kristi Swartz, February 18, 2022)

“Plant Vogtle hits new delays; costs surge near $30B,” read the headline from EnergyWire (E&E News) last week.

The 2,200 MW project was supposed to cost $14 billion and be completed in 2016 (Unit 3) and 2017 (Unit 4); the project now nears $30 billion with a start date in 2023.…

“Despite Georgia Power’s early confidence about staying on track, the massive nuclear expansion of Plant Vogtle south of Augusta is more than three years behind schedule. The company’s share of costs are at least $1.4 billion, or 23 percent, over original projections — enough to build two new Braves stadiums and still have a fortune left over.”

– Matt Kempner, “Overruns Invite Questions about Vogtle Approval,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 5, 2015.

“The new generation of nuclear plants was supposed to be simpler, more efficient, and safer.  The construction was to be easier with the use of modular components. Implementation of the new designs are in trouble all over the world because designs are seriously flawed.” (Jim Clarkson, below)

“Iceberg off the Starboard Bow!” The big ship Vogtle is headed for trouble.…

Late last month, Georgia Power (Southern Company) filed its eighth semi-annual report on the construction progress of its 2,240-MW two-unit Vogtle nuclear plant to the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC).

The already bad news got still worse–not surprising for a project that is all but financially insulated from its own failure. As I previously wrote at MasterResource:

With a pending $8.6 billion federal loan guarantee, a cap on liability, production tax credits and pre-collection of profits this makes Georgia Power the nation’s biggest welfare queen.

Georgia Power’s latest report to state regulators indulges in self-praise, shifts blame for growing problems, and employs misleading analysis. The Company asks the GPSC to approve an additional $737 million in cost and add 15 months to the project’s schedule. Since Georgia Power has 45.7% ownership, the entire $14 billion project has additional cost of over $1.6 billion.…