In a letter released this week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said that they plan to issue a final safety report this month on the two new reactors at the Vogtle site near Augusta, GA. This is yet another step forward toward the construction of a new nuclear plant in the U.S., which hasn’t been accomplished in several decades.
There are already two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, owned and operated by Southern Company. Construction on the two new reactors has been in preliminary phases since 2010, after the loan guarantee was granted for the plant’s construction.
This puts NRC approval for a combine construction and operating license on track for a December issue date. However, before then the NRC will still have to hold a public hearing on the final safety report they plan to release and vote on. More daunting still will be the approval of the reactor design, Westinghouse’s AP1000, which had been on track for approval until earlier this year when some design issues were identified by the NRC.
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