On August 3, 2022, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a 103(g) letter giving Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) approval to load fuel and begin the operation of its nuclear reactor at Vogtle Unit 3.[1] The reactor is one of two 1,117-MW Westinghouse AP1000 reactors SNC is building for owners Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, Dalton Utilities, and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG). The project is part of an expansion of the 2.4-GW Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Burke County, Georgia. The approval from the NRC is a crucial step for the project. Vogtle is the only baseload nuclear construction project in the country, and its two new reactors are the first to be built and approved under the NRC’s Part 52 combined license process. They are also the first big reactors to be built in the U.S. in roughly 30 years. SNC’s parent company Southern Company expects Unit 3 to enter service in the first quarter of 2023, while Unit 4 will enter service in the fourth quarter of 2023.

[1] https://www.georgiapower.com/company/news-center/2022-articles/historic-nuclear-regulatory-commission-103g.html