Public Service Commission staff testify to mechanical issues, delays at Plant Vogtle (2024)

Public Service Commission staff testify to mechanical issues, delays at Plant Vogtle (1)

On Thursday, the Georgia Public Service Commission heard testimony from staff on the nuclearPlant Vogtle expansion, including significant delays and numerous quality issues with the construction.

The hearing was in relation to the 24 Vogtle Construction Monitoring report on Unit 3 and 4 at the plant, which have beensignificantly delayed and come in over budget. Commissioners and other interested parties were able to ask follow-up questions based on testimony submitted by staff earlier this month.

Kurt Ebersbach, representing Georgia Interfaith Power & Light along with Southern Equity, asked staff a series of questions about thedelay in the start of hot functional testing at Unit 3, which is expected to come online before Unit 4. The HFTmakessure all systems can run at the temperatures they will operate at before fuel is loaded into the reactor.

HFT involves bringing the plant slowly up to the operational temperature of 557 degrees Fahrenheitfor the primary coolant. The bulk of the testing takes place once the system reaches that temperature.

"The original plan for HFT was to hit 557 degrees on day 15 of HFT," said William R. Jacobs, the commission's independent construction monitor for the project."As of this morning, they are gradually increasing temperature from the 450 degree plateau and hope to be at the 557 degrees by early afternoon, and this is day … 61."

Jacobs latertestified that he had overseen HFT on another plant that was completed in 22 days.

More:With Plant Vogtle nearer to completion, Georgia Power seeks to recoup capital costs

Another staffer,Steven D. Roetger, lead analyst for the Public Interest Advocacy Team, testified that leaks in the spent fuel pool caused by flawed welds were more significant thanthe company initially represented. The company has had to re-do almost all of the welds, according to Jacobs.

"Itreally is a bit of a shock to find this extent of issues with a Class 1 safety system," Roetger said. The cost to resolve the issue so far has been about $3.4 million, he said.

Jacobs also testified that cables, which were supposed to be separated so thatissues with one set of cables would not cause damage to others, had been run too close together.

"This is a pretty major deal," Jacobs said,especially becausethe issue was discovered late in the process. "When they began looking they found over 600 cases of cable separation that needed to be corrected."

On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced a special inspection related to the cables.

"(The NRC inspection) seems to be getting broader as they find more quality issues," Jacobs said, including testing equipment not being checked properly for calibration.

There were also significant issues with failures of components throughout.

"They've had a very, very highfailure rate of components," Jacobs said – as high as 60 percent during testing. "The testing group will go out to run a pump, stroke a pump, start a fan, and they've found a very high failure rate in the component was not ready to operate when they went out to test it."

Attorney Steven J. Hewitson, representing Georgia Power, asked questions about the scale of issues and delays outlined by staff.

"(Is it) still your view the project should and will be completed?" Hewitson asked.

Jacobs, Roetgers andDonald Grace, vice president of engineering for the Vogtle Monitoring Group, all responded that it is.Grace also acknowledged that the impact of COVID-19 on the construction delays was difficult to untangle from other factors.

"I certainly think that's a matter for further analysis," he said.

Grace said in his written testimony that he does not expect Unit 3 to be completed before June of next year, although Georgia Power maintains it will be operational in the first quarter of 2022.

More:Plant Vogtle now delayed until 2022 as costs mount, Georgia Power says

Tom Newsome, director of utility finance with the Public Service Commission, said during the hearing that each month of delay costs about $25 million.Philip Hayet, vice president atJ. Kennedy and Associates, Inc., testified that it would likely take a delay of more than a year for the project to become uneconomical to complete.

The Vogtle Commission Monitoringreport covers a time period from July 1 to Dec. 31 of last year.The only action that the Public Service Commission will have to take is approvingthe $670 million spent by Georgia Power on the project in that time.

The total expenditure from Georgia Power on the project was about $7.2 billion at the end of last year, just under the $7.3 billion the Public Service Commission has approved. The next $700 million spent on the plant Georgia Power agrees to pass on to shareholders, not ratepayers, and so will not be seeking approval from the Public Service Commission for it.

Public Service Commission staff testify to mechanical issues, delays at Plant Vogtle (2024)

FAQs

How many people work at Vogtle? ›

How many people work at Plant Vogtle? With Units 3 & 4 operational, more than 1,600 people – including engineers, mechanics, control room operators, chemists, electricians, security officers and others – oversee the operations of the four units 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

How much did the Vogtle units 3 and 4 in Georgia cost? ›

Vogtle Units 3 & 4 took 15 years to build and cost $36.8 billion, more than twice the projected timeline and cost. Vogtle independent construction monitors documented that Georgia Power provided materially false cost estimates for at least ten years, falsehoods used to justify expanding Plant Vogtle.

What is the budget for Plant Vogtle? ›

The new Vogtle reactors are currently projected to cost Georgia Power and three other owners $31 billion, according to calculations by The Associated Press. Add in $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid Vogtle owners to walk away from construction, and the total nears $35 billion.

What caused Vogtle delays? ›

CHART: Schedule slippage, cost performance of Vogtle 3 build

Rework was a significant source of project delay, with test failure rates of components at 40%-80% over different time periods, meaning many tested components didn't function properly and needed to be fixed.

What went wrong at Vogtle? ›

Cost overruns and blown deadlines are notorious side effects of undertaking such projects. Vogtle certainly qualifies here. In fact, the existing two nuclear units at Vogtle, which came online in the late 1980s, ended up costing well over 1,000 percent more than the original cost estimates.

What is the largest nuclear power plant in the United States? ›

Palo Verde Generating Station (PVGS) is considered the largest nuclear energy facility in the United States. It is located approximately 55 miles west of downtown Phoenix near the community of Wintersburg, Arizona.

How many reactors does Plant Vogtle have? ›

With a power capacity of 4,536 megawatts, it is the largest nuclear power plant (as of 2013), the largest source of low-carbon electricity, and largest power station overall in the United States. It is also the only nuclear plant in the country with four units.

How many operable nuclear reactors does the US currently have? ›

Across the United States, 94 nuclear reactors power tens of millions of homes and anchor local communities. Navigate national and state statistics for nuclear energy with the tabs along the top, and select your state to see how nuclear energy benefits your community.

Who financed Vogtle? ›

The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a total of up to $12 billion in loan guarantees to Georgia Power Company (GPC), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC), and three subsidiaries of Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) to support the construction of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 – the nation's next generation ...

Why are there no new nuclear power plants? ›

The high cost of constructing these facilities means that even though uranium itself is cheap, it isn't always economical to build. The Cato Institute examined the costs of building new nuclear power compared to other resources and found that in almost all cases it is more economical to build a natural gas facility.

How many homes does Plant Vogtle power? ›

Each of these Vogtle units, both Westinghouse AP1000s, can produce enough electricity to power about 500,000 homes and businesses.

Are nuclear power plants making a comeback? ›

About 60 reactors are under construction across the world. A further 110 are planned. Most reactors under construction or planned are in Asia. New plants coming online in recent years have largely been balanced by old plants being retired.

How many people work at the VW plant in Chattanooga? ›

We are proud to provide good paying jobs for the 5,500 hard-working employees powering our plant. Learn more about our Chattanooga plant and what it means to work for Volkswagen.

How many people are employed at the Kia plant in Georgia? ›

The 2,200-acre, $1.1 billion Troup County plant has 2,700 employees and the capacity to produce 340,000 vehicles each year: the Sorento, the K5 (formerly the Optima) and the Telluride. The company and its suppliers have also produced more than 14,000 jobs in the West Georgia region.

How many people work at Kentucky Truck Plant? ›

Kentucky Truck Plant is an automobile manufacturing plant owned by Ford Motor Company in Louisville, Kentucky. Opened in 1969, the 4,626,490-square-foot (429,815 m2) plant on 500 acres (2.0 km2) currently employs 8,500 people total.

How many people were employed at the nuclear plant? ›

Quick Facts on Nuclear Industry Jobs

Each nuclear power plant employs 500 to 800 workers.

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