Plant
Vogtle will soon become the largest nuclear power plant in the country. The facility
based in Burke County continues the construction of two more nuclear reactors;
making the plant the first four-unit site in the United States.
But since the
$14 billion project began, concerns over Plant Vogtle's safety have been called
into question.
"How
are we making sure that radiation to the general public and to the site doesn't
get to a level that would have any harmful impact?" said Mark Rauckhorst, construction vice president of Vogtle reactors 3 and 4.
Friday morning select organizations
were invited to get a look at the new reactors. Project managers say reactors 3
and 4 are built with a safety feature that does not rely on an operator or
electronic feedback if it needs to shut down in case of an emergency; unlike
reactors 1 and 2 which were built in the 1980s.
"As
an industry we've learned to improve the safety of the plant and improve
reliability, where the capacity factors and the units are at an all-time high
levels," said Tom Tynan, site vice president of Vogtle reactors 1 and 2.
These
pressurized water reactors, will soon move into the next phase of construction.
Using the world's largest crane to place this bottom head of the containment
vessel into a 40-foot-deep crater, and then build on up; a process scheduled to
take years.
"Our
real focus here is on safety and quality of the plant. The schedule will take
care of itself as we go forward," Rauckhorst said.
Vogtle 3 and 4 are
scheduled to go online at the end of 2016 and 2017. They will be the nation's
first new reactors in the past three decades; a major step toward Georgia's
future in nuclear energy.
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