Plant Vogtle: Georgia's Shame
Last Monday the Atlanta Journal & Constitution had this headline:
“Georgia Power now says Vogtle nuclear ‘likely’ to bust deadline”
Once again the only nuclear power plant under construction in the United States will not meet its expected in-service date. Plant Vogtle in Georgia is now 100% over budget at $30 billion...and it is not done. This is federal government level money one state is spending on just one power plant.
These units will produce a relatively small 2100 MW of electricity for that price. How much demand response, wind and solar, green hydrogen, storage, and energy efficiency would $30 billion have bought? A lot! I’m wanting nuclear boosters to realize this is wrong. Georgia is pursuing an energy solution that is 9 times more expensive than necessary for a state in the bottom 10 in terms of wealth.
Billions of dollars have been spent on carbon capture technologies, nuclear research and the like when the solutions for reducing carbon are already here and inexpensive. Failed nuclear investments alone, just in the Southeast, have cost ratepayers north of $50 billion.
This is unnecessary. See this report for how to reduce carbon emissions without nuclear: