Page 48 - Nuclear Plant Journal - March April 2013
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48
Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2013
Vogtle First
Nuclear
Concrete
By Georiga Power.
On March 14, 2013, Georgia Power
completed the placement of basemat
structural concrete for the nuclear island
at its Vogtle Unit 3 nuclear expansion site,
a significant achievement in the building
of the first new nuclear units in the
United States in 30 years. Vogtle Units 3
and 4 will each utilize the Westinghouse
AP1000 reactor.
“This historic moment marks yet
another important milestone of the
Vogtle expansion project and reflects
the tremendous progress we’ve made at
the site,” said Georgia Power Nuclear
Development Executive Vice President
Buzz Miller. “We are very proud of this
accomplishment, and of all the hard
work and collaboration that went into
making it happen. This was a team effort
that included Georgia Power, Southern
Nuclear, CB&I, Westinghouse Electric
Company and our co-owners - Oglethorpe
Power Corporation, the Municipal
Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton
Utilities.”
Georgia Power is building Vogtle
units 3 and 4, near Waynesboro, Georgia.
The first components for erecting the
Unit 3 containment vessel are completed
and staged for installation once the
basemat concrete has cured, including the
cradle and the Unit 3 containment vessel
bottom head.
While maintaining focus on safety,
quality and compliance, the basemat
concrete placement was completed in
approximately 41 hours. The placement at
VogtleUnit 3 encompassed approximately
7,000 cubic yards of concrete, which
will serve as the foundation for all of
the nuclear island structures, including
the containment vessel and the shield
building. It covered an area approximately
250 feet long and 160 feet wide at its
widest point, and the concrete measured
six feet in thickness.
Vogtle Unit 3 construction progress – turbine and nuclear island in the
foreground, and the cooling tower, containment vessel bottom head and
CR10 cradle assembly in the background.
The construction of Vogtle 3 and
4 is the largest job-producing project in
Georgia, employing approximately 5,000
people during peak construction and
creating 800 permanent jobs when the
plant begins operating. Once complete,
the new units will produce enough
electricity to power 500,000 Georgia
homes and businesses.
Unit 3 is scheduled to go on line in
2017, and Unit 4 will follow in 2018.
The facility provides at least $4 billion
more value to customers than the next best
available technology, including natural
gas generation. Georgia Power is in a
position to provide customers with up to
$2 billion in potential benefits in the form
of savings related to recovering financing
costs during construction, DOE loan
guarantees, production tax credits, lower-
than-forecast interest rates and lower-
than-forecast commodity costs.
Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary
of Southern Company, is overseeing
construction and will operate the two new
1,100-megawattAP1000 units for Georgia
Power and co-owners Oglethorpe Power
Corporation, the Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities.
Georgia Power owns 45.7 percent of the
new units.
Georgia Power is the largest
subsidiary of Southern Company, one
of the nation’s largest generators of
electricity. The company is an investor-
owned, tax-paying utility with rates
below the national average. Georgia
Power serves 2.4 million customers in all
but four of Georgia’s 159 counties.
Contact: Mark Williams, Georgia
Power, telephone: (404) 506-7676,
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