NRC Advances Southern Co. Bid to Build U.S. Nuclear Units - Businessweek

---

---

---

UPDATE 2/9: whats up: NRC Approves Southern’s Nuclear-Plant Construction Permit, First Since ’78

---

February 02, 2012
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a vote for Feb. 9 on Southern Co.’s application for the first construction permit to build nuclear reactors in more than 30 years.

The NRC’s announcement, posted today on the agency’s website, is required seven days before a public meeting. The Nuclear Energy Institute expects the application to be approved, Marvin Fertel, chief executive officer of the Washington-based industry group, said Jan. 18 at a conference in Washington.

“The commissioners have the tools they need to issue” the license, Steve Higginbottom, a Southern spokesman, said in an e- mail.

Southern is planning to build two reactors at its Vogtle power plant, about 26 miles (42 kilometers) southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The Atlanta-based company said the first unit would be in operation by 2016 with the second reactor working a year later. Construction will cost about $14 billion.

The NRC also is considering a license for Scana Corp. of Cayce, South Carolina, to build two reactors at an existing plant, as the agency weighs new safety rules for the U.S. nuclear-power industry after Japan’s disaster last year...

- NRC Advances Southern Co. Bid to Build U.S. Nuclear Units - Businessweek

note: that is $14 billion of taxpayer dollars; and Westinghouse is the manufacture.

---