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THURSDAY. JULY 8. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Nuclear Regulatory Commission probe
behind another delay at Plant Vogtle
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - A new inves
tigation of the nuclear expan
sion at Plant Vogtle the
Nuclear Regulatory Commis
sion (the NRC) announced
this week could further post
pone completion of the long-
delayed project.
Donald Grace of Critical
Technologies Construction,
who serves as an independent
monitor of the project, testi
fied Thursday the NRC probe
marks “an increased level of
oversight” of the addition of
two nuclear reactors at the
plant south of Augusta.
“The fact the NRC is now
getting involved ... adds an
additional degree of uncer
tainty over how long it’s
going to take to get to the fuel
load,” Grace told members of
the Georgia Public Service
Commission (PSC) during a
hearing.
Prime contractor Southern
Nuclear Operating Co. began
hot functional testing of Unit
3, the first of two new reac
tors being built at Plant Vog
tle, in April. The testing is
conducted to make sure the
reactor is ready for fuel load
ing, one of the final steps be
fore the unit can go into
commercial operation.
But fuel loading has been
put on hold pending the out
come of the NRC investiga
tion, which will focus on
electrical cable systems
needed to make sure safety-
related equipment is powered
to function properly.
William Jacobs of GDS
Associates, another inde
pendent monitor, said the
contractor found more than
600 cases of cable separation
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throughout the plant that
need to be corrected.
“This is a big deal,” he
said. “It reflects on ... quality
assurance, the quality control
processes that were in place.”
Jacobs said hot functional
testing of Unit 3 was delayed
by a 60% failure rate of com
ponents needed to conduct
the test.
The NRC investigation is
just the latest of a series of
delays that have plagued the
nuclear expansion since the
PSC approved the project 12
years ago. A major factor
holding up the work was the
bankruptcy of Westinghouse
Electric, the project’s original
prime contractor.
Georgia Power Co. and
three utility partners under
writing the project originally
expected the Unit 3 reactor to
be completed in 2016, fol
lowed a year later by the sec
ond reactor, Unit 4.
The latest estimate is that
Unit 3 won’t go into com
mercial operation until at
least the first quarter of next
year, followed by Unit 4 by
the end of 2022.
The delays have run up
the project’s price tag to
nearly double the original
$14 billion estimate.
On Thursday, Jacobs at
tributed much of the con
struction shortcomings the
project has experienced to a
rushed schedule. For exam
ple, the contractor committed
to completing hot functional
testing, a process that nor
mally takes six months, in
fewer than four.
“They have put produc
tion as a priority over qual
ity," Jacobs said. “They’ve
got their production goals,
and they’re intent on meeting
them.”
Thursday’s hearing was
part of a review of the pro
ject’s status the PSC under
takes every six months. As
part of that, Georgia Power is
requesting the commission to
verify and approve $670 mil
lion in spending the project
incurred during the last half
of last year.
Despite their criticisms of
the project, the independent
monitors recommended that
the PSC approve the spend
ing.
Steven Hewitson, a
lawyer representing Georgia
Power, noted that recommen
dation in his cross-examina
tion of the monitors.
Hewitson conceded the
cable separation issue was a
construction mistake, but he
said errors are bound to occur
in such a complex project.
“No one would expect on
a project of this magnitude
there would be 100% con
struction completion without
some mistakes,” he said.
The NRC investigation is
scheduled to take just two
weeks.
But Steven Roetger, a
member of the PSC’s Advo
cacy staff, said the probe
could expand, depending on
what the inspectors find.
The inspection team will
release its findings and con
clusions in a report to be is
sued within 45 days of
completing its review.
TT-
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