Vote results: Construction will continue on Vogtle nuclear power plant

Construction at the Vogtle nuclear power plant. (credit: Southern Company)

The four owners of the new additions to the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia agreed on Thursday that construction on the two additional reactors can go forward. The agreement was made despite growing opposition among some local lawmakers and at least one community-owned utility.

The decision throws yet another lifeline to the US' weak nuclear industry. After reactor maker Westinghouse went bankrupt last year, the futures of the reactor additions at Vogtle and its sister plant Summer in South Carolina were anything but certain. Indeed, construction on the Summer plant was abandoned due to dramatic cost overruns.

Vogtle has experienced the same dramatic cost overruns as Summer, but it survived due to political will from Georgia Public Service Commission, as well as the fact that the reactor build-out was slightly further along in its construction than Summer.

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