US-American NRC initiates investigation into atomic block Vogtle 3 in South Georgia

June 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced Monday that it has initiated a special inspection at Southern Co’s Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant to find out what is going on with the refurbishment work on the third block, which is under construction is located, has led.

The NRC said its team will focus on the electrical cable route system, which is designed to prevent a single event from disabling redundant safety-related equipment.

Southern said the two units under construction at Vogtle, which are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule, are on track next year with Block 3 in January and Block 4 through the officially approved commissioning date in November 2022 be.

The NRC said renovation work on the electrical cable route system posed no risk to the public as there was no fuel in the facility.

Southern officials were not immediately available for comment.

Vogtle 3 will be the first new reactor in the US since 2016, when the Tennessee Valley Authority completed Watts Bar 2 in Tennessee. The two blocks at Vogtle are the only US reactors under construction.

Delays and cost overruns in building reactors could make it difficult for new nuclear power plants to play a large role in President Joe Biden’s goal of getting all US electricity from non-carbon sources such as nuclear and renewables by 2035.

When Georgia approved the Vogtle expansion in 2009, the two 1,117-megawatt Westinghouse AP1000 reactors were expected to cost around $ 14 billion and commissioned in 2016 and 2017.

Some analysts estimate the cost rose to more than $ 27 billion in 2017 due to delays related to a nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima plant in 2011 and the bankruptcy of Westinghouse, the project’s former contractor.

Southern estimated the cost of capital for its 45.7% stake in the new Vogtle reactors to be approximately $ 8.7 billion.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino Editing by Marguerita Choy)