"The two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia reached another milestone as Georgia Power received the first shipment of nuclear fuel for Unit 3 of the project.
... The Vogtle expansion is adding two, 1,100-MW AP1000 reactors to the nuclear plant, where two other reactors—Units 1 and 2—have operated since 1987 and 1989, respectively.
The team leading the expansion, a project which would provide the U.S. with the country’s first new large-scale nuclear reactors in more than 30 years, earlier this year successfully completed the pre-startup review process conducted by the World Association of Nuclear Operators.
Georgia Power owns 45.7% of Plant Vogtle. Three other project partners—Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and the City of Dalton Utilities—own the remaining 54.3%.
... analysts have pegged the project’s eventual cost at more than $27 billion. The expansion’s original timeline called for Units 3 and 4 to begin operating in 2016; the current schedule calls for Unit 3 to come online in November 2021, with Unit 4 following one year later. Georgia Power on Wednesday said more than 7,000 workers are currently onsite.
Georgia Power outlined the nuclear fuel process in a news release. It noted that “One nuclear fuel pellet, roughly the size of a pencil eraser, provides as much energy as one ton of coal or nearly 150 gallons of oil.
The nuclear fuel pellets are enclosed in nuclear fuel rods, which are then part of nuclear fuel assemblies. Consisting of 157 fuel assemblies with each measuring 14 feet tall, the fuel will be loaded into the reactor vessel to support startup once the reactor begins operating.
After the initial fueling, approximately one-third of the total fuel assemblies will be replaced during each refueling outage after the units begin operating, similar to the process used at existing Vogtle Units 1 & 2.”
Workers at the site—the construction crew prior to the coronavirus pandemic numbered about 9,000—have reached several milestones this year, including:
... Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear, which are leading the two-unit expansion, have said construction delays this year are largely the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced the project’s workforce. Georgia Power earlier this year cut about 2,000 of the then-9,000 workers on site in an effort to lessen the spread of the coronavirus.
The utility in a recent filing with state regulators said more than 1,000 workers on the projects had tested positive for COVID-19; it said about 6,600 workers at the site have been isolated at some point after possibly being in close contact to someone who has tested positive for the virus."