Third of four steam generators placed for Vogtle Unit 4

Georgia Power recently announced that it had placed the third of four steam generators at its Vogtle nuclear expansion near Waynesboro, Georgia.

The 1.4 million-pound, 80-foot-long steam generator is now located in the Unit 4 nuclear island. The steam generators for the new units were manufactured in South Korea and transported to the site through the Port of Savannah and then by rail.

Steam generators are heat exchangers that convert water into steam using the heat produced in a nuclear reactor core.

The final steam generator is onsite. Georgia Power expects to place it in the coming months.

Over the past two weeks, the company has also installed the fourth and final cooling water system pump for Unit 3. Each pump weighs 62,000 pounds and will circulate 160,000 gallons of water per minute.

The pumps will take water from the cooling tower basin and circulate it through the condensers in the turbine building to help cool the steam coming off the turbines. The warm water will then recirculate through the natural-draft cooling towers where the heat will be released to the atmosphere.

Georgia Power provides a full report on the Vogtle nuclear expansion to the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) every six months through the detailed, transparent Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) process.