You are here: Home » News » Environment » Georgia To Get Two New Nuclear Reactors

Georgia To Get Two New Nuclear Reactors

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on February 9, 2012.

The Vogtle nuclear power plant, Waynesboro, Georgia

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4 to 1 for the building of two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. It is near the South Carolina border, about 65 mile northwestly up the Savannah River from the Atlantic Ocean.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko cast the dissenting vote, citing last year’s disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan. He wants better reviews of how nuclear plants in America could withstand natural disasters. At 65 miles from the ocean, the threat to Vogtle from a tsunami or even a hurricane storm surge is very, very slight. Waynesboro is, however, on the edge of the middle zone for earthquake hazard, which is centered on the South Carolina coast. This is the first permit granted for construction of a nuclear plant in over 30 years.

For a time, interest in nuclear plant construction was high because of our dependency on foreign oil, but the drop in natural gas prices has greatly reduced interest in nuclear power. A 1,000 megawatt power plant using natural gas generation, with the newest technological advances, takes less than five years to permit and build and costs up to $1 billion. A similar nuclear power plant takes 5 to 10 years to build and costs more than $5 billion. It just doesn’t make sense economically to go with nuclear right now.

Between 2007 and 2009, applications were made by 13 companies to build 25 new reactors. This is the first such permit to be approved.