16 March 2013

Construction Start at Vogtle Reactor in the US

On 15 March 2013, first concrete was poured at the third unit of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, symbolizing the start of construction. The reactor is a Westinghouse AP 1000 design and one of two new units for the nuclear power plant near Atlanta. The reactors are expected to be finished in 2017 and 2018, a year behind schedule. The construction cost is expected to be $14 billion and are supported by a $8.33 billion federal loan guarantee, awarded in February 2010. The announcement comes on the back of the announcement to start construction of similar AP 1000 reactors at the Summer-2 unit in South Carolina only four days earlier.