Overall construction completion of Georgia Power’s long-delayed Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project could extend into early 2024—nearly seven years beyond the project’s initial schedule, according to two separate construction monitors. The monitors cite the construction team’s use of unachievable schedules, a critical path that “changes from day to day,” widespread equipment performance issues during operational testing, as well as the use of unauthorized testing methods that damaged built systems.
That assessment differs from that of Georgia Power, which recently updated its estimated completion dates for Vogtle’s Unit 3 and Unit 4 to the third quarter of 2022, and the second quarter of 2023, respectively.