Project Owners Recommend Completion Of Westinghouse AP1000 Units At Vogtle

1 Sep (NucNet): The owners of the Vogtle nuclear station expansion project in the US state of Georgia have recommended completing the two AP1000 nuclear units being built there, despite the bankruptcy of main contractor Westinghouse and increased costs. Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton, Georgia said on 31 August 2017 they favour completing the partly built units even without fixed-price guarantees from Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy reorganisation in March 2017. The ultimate decision will rest with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), which will determine whether Georgia Power can recover its costs for the project from utility customers. Georgia Power said in its statement that it had asked the PSC to approve its decision to continue with construction and said failure to allow it to recover all its costs would be grounds for all the partners to abandon the project. Georgia Power, which owns 45.7% of the new units, has invested around $4.3bn (€3.6bn) in capital costs in the project and estimates that its cost to complete the units is approximately $4.5bn, a total capital cost forecast for the utility of approximately $8.8bn. The Georgia PSC has already approved $5.68bn in capital costs for Georgia Power's share of the project. With $1.7bn in anticipated payments from Westinghouse parent company Toshiba, Georgia Power’s potential additional capital costs are approximately $1.4bn. Based on the new assessments, the total estimated capital cost forecast for 100% of the project is approximately $19bn. The original project estimate was $14bn.