Discussion of nuclear power generated by facilities such as Plant Vogtle appears to be surging at COP26, the United Nations climate summit in Scotland.
Tag: plant vogtle
Posted inLatest News
New Plant Vogtle credit rating says electricity prices could be higher than forecast
Additional construction delays forecast at Plant Vogtle could cause its customers to face higher electricity rates than currently envisioned, according to three credit rating actions issued Monday by Moody’s Investors Service.
Posted inColumns
Plant Vogtle milestone: A rate hike request related to pending start of reactor
A new chapter in the saga of Plant Vogtle has commenced. The issue is whether Georgia Power customers will or won’t pay an extra $235 million a year in capital costs to build the nuclear plant, or if the rate hike request will be delayed.
Posted inColumns
Plant Vogtle: Georgia’s shame
By Guest Columnist PATTY DURAND, president of Cool Planet Solutions
Georgia Power has the only nuclear plant under construction in the United States, which I call “Georgia’s Shame.” It is shameful that the timeline the utility provided to regulators, investors and the public – those of us paying for this plant – is now six years behind schedule. And it is shameful that the utility’s cost estimates for this plant were off by a shocking 100%: The original cost estimate for the two new units was $14 billion, and 2021 costs are near or at $30 billion.
Posted inLatest News
Plant Vogtle’s latest delay prompts negative comment on Georgia Power: Moody’s
This story has been updated with comments from Georgia Power.
Posted inLatest News
Plant Vogtle enters its third presidential administration as costs, delays hover
The next definitive update on Plant Vogtle’s cost and opening date is due in February. Until then, ratepayers are sifting through testimony from a monitor whose report conflicts with statements from the company.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia utility sees credit boost by winning dispute with partner at Plant Vogtle
A credit upgrade for a Georgia utility is the latest outcome of the resolution of a contract dispute among partners building the only nuclear facility under construction in the nation, Plant Vogtle.
Posted inLatest News
Plant Vogtle: Age discrimination a new wrinkle in Westinghouse bankruptcy
Timothy Ellis claims he was fired in a clear case of age discrimination. Otherwise, Ellis is just one of many caught in the grinder as Westinghouse Electric Co. declared bankruptcy and lost its job building Plant Vogtle, the nuclear facility near Augusta.
Posted inLatest News
Plant Vogtle: Fairly strong credit rating awarded $275 million in construction bonds
A partner in the Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant project has received a fairly positive rating from Moody’s Investors Service on debt it plans to sell in September to continue its share of construction funding. That said, analysts advised potential investors of pending challenges and reminded of the upcoming construction status report due by Aug. 30.
Posted inLatest News
Federal aid for Plant Vogtle doesn’t ease fallout for halted S.C. sister project
The very low interest rates provided in a federal loan guarantee to Georgia’s Plant Vogtle nuclear plant ease the project’s financing and cost pressures. But the nightmares around a shuttered sister plant in South Carolina continue for those caught up in the bankruptcy of the former contractor for both plants, Westinghouse Electric Co., according to federal court records.
Posted inLatest News
Battle over Plant Vogtle costs Jacksonville a downgrade in credit ratings, outlook
The battle among the owners of Plant Vogtle over its continued construction has led to a lowering of the credit ratings of about $2.1 billion in bonds sold by Jacksonville, Fl. The concern is the city’s reliability to repay its debts, according to a rating action issued by Moody’s Investors Service.
Posted inLatest News
Southern Co. on Vogtle: ‘ultimate outcome of these matters cannot be determined’
The following sentence concludes a federal filing that sets out terms of the agreement among Plant Vogtle’s partners that enables construction to continue: “The ultimate outcome of these matters cannot be determined at this time.”
Posted inLatest News
Plant Vogtle: Vote to halt or continue construction expected by Sept. 30, rating action says
A vote on whether construction will continue at troubled Plant Vogtle is expected to come before its four co-owners by Sept. 30, according to a rating action issued by Moody’s Investors Service.
Posted inLatest News
Failed S.C. nuclear plant spurs credit downgrade, political battles, lawsuits
Just as Georgia Power’s credit was downgraded this month for financial losses related to Plant Vogtle, Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the rating of bonds issued by the South Carolina Public Service Authority for an aborted nuclear plant in the Palmetto State. But that’s just part of the story.
Posted inColumns
More than a financial burden, Plant Vogtle a bad business decision for Georgia
By Guest Columnist MICHAEL M. SIZEMORE, founding principal of Sizemore Group and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects
What makes a good business decision? After running a successful architecture firm for decades, I’ve learned a thing or two about what guides good business judgment, and the importance of making sound decisions in the best interest of one’s clients….
And that is why I can say with confidence that the decision to continue the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion, despite a near doubling of its original price tag and more than five years of delay, appears to be bad business, pure and simple.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia’s wannabe electricity regulators talk nuclear, solar, power bills at debate
What members of the Public Service Commission do affects your power bill every month and the mix of coal, nuclear and other electricity sources Georgia uses. That’s why environmentalists watch it closely. Now the candidates for the PSC are showing up on primary ballots all over the state — and on Thursday, they faced off in debates.
Posted inLatest News
Junk bond rating issued for parent of SC nuclear plant, impact on Vogtle unclear
The financial fallout continues over the troubled nuclear construction projects in the Southeast, as Moody’s Investors Service on Monday slashed the credit rating of SCANA Corp. and its subsidiary that had been building a nuclear plant in South Carolina. The new rating action cites the hardening political climate in the Palmetto State as detrimental to SCANA’s financial posture.
Posted inLatest News
Report on ‘nuclear, climate injustices in U.S. South’ released as PSC weighs fate of Plant Vogtle
A new report names the South as the nuclear hub of the United States and calls for an end to all federal funding for Plant Vogtle, along with greater protections for women and the minority, typically low-income communities where nuclear facilities have been built.
Posted inColumns
As Georgia regulators ponder Vogtle’s future, more revelations emerge about its doomed twin in South Carolina
From a design point of view, the nuclear projects at Plant Vogtle and the V.C. Summer site in South Carolina were identical. They were to be the first in a new generation of U.S. nuclear reactors, the Westinghouse AP1000s, cheaper, easier to build and safer than their predecessors.
Posted inLyle Harris
Georgia Power vs. the law of holes
By Lyle V. Harris
Georgia Power is likely to get another shot-in-the-arm after announcing plans to complete construction on those ill-fated nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro. A far more appropriate response to this epic boondoggle, of course, would be a swift kick in the pants. But don’t count on it.
