The facility, also known as Plant Vogtle, has two other older reactors that went online for commercial operation in the late 1980s. A fourth unit is under construction, and Georgia Power estimates it will be finished and online in the fourth quarter of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.
Once Unit 4 is complete, Plant Vogtle will become the largest nuclear power plant in the United States. Georgia Power, a Southern Company subsidiary that has almost half ownership of the facility, estimates that at its full 1,100-megawatt output, Unit 3 will provide power to 500,000 households in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
The company estimates that Plant Vogtle Unit 3 will provide power to those customers for 60 to 80 years.“Today is a historic day for the state of Georgia, Southern Company and the entire energy sector. … With Unit 3 completed and Unit 4 in the final stages of construction and testing, this project shows just how new nuclear can and will play a critical role in achieving a clean energy future,” Southern Company CEO Chris Womack said in a statement.
Plant Vogtle Unit 3 is the second such nuclear reactor to go online in the U.S. in the 21st century. A unit at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant went online in 2016. That unit began construction in 1972 before taking a 22-year pause in building from 1985 to 2007.
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