The last nuclear reactors under construction in the US are facing opposition

Enlarge / Vogtle unit 3. (credit: Georgia Power)

Two nuclear reactors are under construction at Vogtle's nuclear power plant in Georgia, and they are a lonely pair in a stagnating US nuclear industry. Now, leaders of municipalities and utilities that are on the hook to buy electricity from Vogtle's new reactors are saying they want the project stopped to save their customers from having to shoulder the cost burden.

The three major owners of the construction project are expected to vote on whether to keep it or cut losses in the coming days.

Costs for Vogtle and its sister reactors at the Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina ballooned to well over their roughly $7 billion estimated cost, and when reactor-maker Westinghouse went bankrupt last year, the projects faced a choice: end construction and move on or keep on trucking in the hopes that further construction costs could be limited.

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