Vogtle nuclear expansion reaches construction milestones

The expansion project at the Vogtle nuclear plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, hit several construction milestones recently, including a concrete ‘super placement’ for Unit 3 and the lift of the 237-ton CA03 module for Unit 4.

The concrete placement included 1,844 cubic yards of concrete and took 71 continuous hours. Workers poured new concrete in four areas of the Unit 3 containment vessel, the refueling cavity, the bottom of the in-containment refueling water storage tank, the west steam generator cubicle walls, and the pressurizer cubicle walls.

Unit 4’s 237-ton CA03 module is a critical part of the In-Containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST). The IRWST, a 75,300-cubic-foot tank, will be filled with borated water once the units are operational and provide passive heatsink within containment and backup cooling for the reactor vessel.

Over the last 30 days, workers also placed the CA33 floor module for Unit 3 and the Vogtle Unit 4 deaerator inside the turbine building.

More than 6,000 workers are working on-site on the expansion project.

Georgia Power, which owns 45.7 percent of the new units, recently filed a recommendation with Georgia Public Service Commission to continue work on the project. The units’ co-owners, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities support the recommendation. Georgia PSC will review the recommendation and make a decision on the future of the Vogtle 3 and 4 project as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) proceeding.

Completion of the expansion would mark the first new nuclear units in the United States in 30 years.