The new contractors at Plant Vogtle, the nuclear powerplant project where completion cost estimates have ballooned to $16 billion, know that the eyes of the world’s construction and engineering industry, not to mention Georgia Power ratepayers, are upon them. So far, things have not gone well for the country’s first nuclear expansion in approximately 30 years—a sister project to South Carolina utility SCANA/Santee Cooper’s expansion of its V.C. Summer nuclear plant in Jenkinsville, S.C. More than three years behind its original schedule and significantly over budget, the Vogtle project near Waynesboro, Ga., has endured notable construction quality deficits pinned to several vendors, a legal battle between the owner and the former contractor over disputed costs as well as highly public criticism from both the state’s construction monitor and watchdog groups.
Even the project’s current extended in-service dates of June 2019 and June 2020, for Vogtle Units 3 and 4, respectively, were recently stirring doubts from Georgia construction monitors.