Dive Brief:
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Construction of nuclear power reactors in Georgia and South Carolina has been delayed, costing their owners more than $2 billion in extra capital and financing, according to the Associated Press.
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Southern Co., which is building a new plant in Georgia, said this week that two reactors at Plant Vogtle are behind schedule. The company is involved in a lawsuit with the firms that are building the new plants—Westinghouse Electric Co. and Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.—over a prior setback and said each month of the project’s estimated 18-month delay could cost $40 million.
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Power company Scana Corp. last summer also announced a months-long delay of a reactor under construction at the Summer nuclear power plant near Columbia, SC.
Dive Insight:
The Vogtle plant’s delay is an ironic commentary on the new wave of reactor construction, as the project was designed to showcase new construction techniques that would prove the facilities could be built on schedule and without the cost overruns that plagued the industry in the 1970s.
It also comes at a time when cheap natural gas prices have brought the need for new reactors into question. Some power companies have decommissioned existing reactors during the recent oil boom.