Georgia Power’s Sept. 26 gamble to accept demands from Oglethorpe Power Corp. to assume more contractual risk and continue the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion—now estimated at $27 billion—matches the utility’s earlier assessment that contractors can deliver the long-delayed project on the current schedule. Though the utility bumped up Vogtle’s price tag by $2.3 billion in its latest report to state regulators, filed in August, Georgia Power also noted faith in Bechtel’s continuing estimate that it can achieve the respective commercial operation targets for Units 3 and 4 of November 2021 and November 2022.

Georgia Power spokesperson John Kraft noted to ENR: “The company believes that the revised forecast and new contingency should be sufficient to take the project to completion.”