The financial newspaper Financial Times estimates that the now completed reactor may remain one of the last in the United States.
Yesterday, Monday, a new nuclear reactor began commercial electricity production in the United States. The project was completed seven years late and was billions of dollars more expensive than planned. The news agency, for example, tells about it AP and a financial magazine Financial Times (FT).
The delayed nuclear power plant project may remind Finns of Olkiluoto, whose triple reactor started commercial electricity production in the spring of this year, 14 years late.
The triple reactor completed at the Vogtle nuclear power plant is the first nuclear reactor built from scratch in the United States in more than 30 years.
The power plant is located in the state of Georgia. The quad reactor to be built at the same nuclear power plant should start commercial production by the end of March next year. Construction of both reactors began in 2009.
The triple and quadruple reactors were originally supposed to cost 14 billion dollars. In the end, the price tag swelled to more than $30 billion.
The reactor was supposed to be one of dozens of new nuclear reactors that would be built around the United States, reports the Financial Times. However, the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011 and the reduced price level of natural gas dampened the enthusiasm. In the end, the construction of only four reactors proceeded.
The FT estimates in the title of its article that the now completed reactor may be one of the last in the United States.
The triple reactor produces electricity for about 500,000 households and businesses and should operate for 60–80 years.