Plant Vogtle Unit 3 begins nuclear fuel loading, marking next step toward finish
In the early morning hours of Friday, Georgia Power reported that fuel loading began at Plant Vogtle's Unit 3 reactor near Waynesboro.
The loading marks another step in the long process to completion and commercial operation of the first new nuclear units built in the U.S. in more than three decades.
The reactor received a go-ahead from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in early August to begin fuel loading, which consists of nuclear technicians and operators from Westinghouse and Southern Nuclear transferring 157 fuel assemblies — rods containing the material for nuclear fission — one-by-one from Unit 3 spent fuel pool to the Unit 3 reactor core in the coming days.
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Plant Vogtle Unit 3 is expected to enter service during the first quarter of 2023. It will be operated by Southern Nuclear on behalf of the plant's co-owners, Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities.
"These units are important to building the future of energy and will serve as clean, emission-free sources of energy for Georgians for the next 60 to 80 years," Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack noted in a news release.
The utility company expects Plant Vogtle to play an important role in its roadmap to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, especially as it phases out all of its coal burning units by 2028, aside from Plant Bowen in Bartow County.
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The loading comes amidst concerns of the project's rising price as the completion date drags out. In late September, Georgia Power looked to the Georgia Public Service Commission with four proposed rate increases for the next few years, one of which Georgia Power said would cover the cost of bringing two of Plant Vogtle's nuclear reactors online.
Marisa Mecke is an environmental journalist. She can be reached at mmecke@gannett.com or by phone at (912) 328-4411.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Nuclear fuel loading begins at Plant Vogtle's Unit 3 reactor
