On Monday, Georgia Power announced that the Unit 3 reactor at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, Georgia is now providing clean energy to an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses. This marks the first time a nuclear reactor has started delivering energy to the grid since October 2016, when the Tennessee Valley Authority began commercial operation of its Watts Bar Unit 2. Carbon emissions are not produced in the generation of this energy.
On Monday, the first nuclear reactor to supply electricity to the US electric grid in nearly seven decades became operational. With its Westinghouse AP1000 providing about 1,110 megawatts of energy, it is capable of powering up to half a million residences and businesses. This was preceded by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Unit 2, which came online in October 2016. The last time a new nuclear reactor started before that was in May 1996. Vogtle unit 3 will generate power for the next six to eight decades, according to Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene. Nuclear energy does not cause climate change, as it does not emit harmful GHGs.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, a nuclear industry advocacy group, lauds the commercial operation of Vogtle Unit 3 as a substantial feat for the U.S. nuclear energy industry and a major step forward in developing global clean and sustainable energy sources. Maria Korsnick, the organization's CEO, commented in a statement that they are overjoyed at the effectiveness of this Westinghouse AP1000 advanced reactor in shaping the upcoming energy terrain.
Constructing a reactor of this type is a sizable undertaking. In 2009, work began on Vogtle 3 and 4 but it took longer than anticipated and cost much more than initially projected, as the Columbia University nuclear energy experts reported in an article published Monday. At the outset, the two reactors had a price tag of $14 billion, with a projected energizing date of 2016 and 2017. However, expenditures have now climbed to $30 billion and unit 4 remains to be switched on. According to the Columbia energy analysts, some problems with the construction arose as a consequence of commencing the job before the design was finalised. Fortunately, this won't be an issue with AP1000 builds. Nevertheless, the time lag and budget issues at Vogtle have had a dampening effect on the nuclear energy industry, which has been aiming for a revival after several years of inactivity.
The majority of nuclear power generated in the US dates back to the 1970s and 1980s. After the Three Mile Island incident of 1979, there was an unsurprising reduction in support for nuclear energy. The World Nuclear Association stated that the nuclear construction sector experienced a dearth of activity over two decades. Nonetheless, nuclear energy has drawn increased attraction merely in recent years due to the growing urgency to respond to climate change, by providing cleaner electricity. According to the DOE, in 2022 nuclear energy accounted for 47% of America's emission free energy and has been contributing almost 20% of the nation's total energy since the 1990s. Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities have 45.7%, 30%, 22.7%, and 1.6%, shares respectively, in the Vogtle Plant, with unit 4 anticipated to become operational in either the late fourth quarter 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.
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