There’s new information on the projected costs to build two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, and it gives critics more ammunition.  

“Billions and billions and billions of dollars,” says Sara Barczak from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE). “I think at this point it’s hard for people to put it into perspective.”

Wednesday, Southern Company (the parent company of Georgia Power) reported a projected loss of $1.1 Billion on Vogtle 3 and 4.

This was in a filing to the Security and Exchange Commission.

Georgia Power said in a news release that its “revised capital and construction cost forecast for its share of the project has increased from $7.3 billion to $8.4 billion, based on a revised cost-to-complete estimate from Southern Nuclear.”

The company went on to say it will “absorb $700 million additional projected costs and that there is no impact on customer bills from these future costs.”

The move to “absorb costs” was applauded by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.

Georgia Power is one of three partners in the Vogtle Project (holding a share of 45.7 percent) and is now working to complete the reactors saying the project will provide reliable and clean energy for years to come.

SACE says the project is five years behind schedule and now “projected to cost about twice as much as when it was proposed.” 

“We raised the warning flag and ran down the street with it and tried to get the attention of Georgia Public Service Commissioners (PSC),” said Barczak. 

The PSC voted in late December to let Georgia Power move forward with the project despite losses and despite the bankruptcy of the lead contractor.

Georgia Power said Wednesday that construction is still on target to complete both reactors by 2022. 

“Time after time the company has put forth this very confident statement it can build this on time and on budget,” said Barczak. “Well on time and on budget was back in 2016 and 2017 for half the cost of what it is right now.  So when do they lose their credibility and when does the public service commission finally say enough?”

Georgia Power says it will continue to provide cost and schedule updates to the Georgia Public Service Commission through the Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) process and that the next filing will occur at the end of August.