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The long-delayed second new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle near Augusta reached another milestone Friday afternoon when it synced with the electric grid for the first time, Georgia Power said.
Connecting to the grid is a key step on the path to placing the unit, known as Unit 4, into service. The development comes about two weeks after the company began a self-sustaining fission reaction inside Unit 4′s reactor, a stage known as “initial criticality.”
In a release, Georgia Power said operators will continue testing the unit as they raise its power to 100%.
Unit 4 was supposed to begin providing electricity to Georgians by the end of March, but an issue discovered in one of its critical cooling systems during start-up testing triggered a new delay. The company says the problem has been fixed, but Unit 4 is now expected to enter service sometime between April and June.
The new Vogtle units are the first new commercial reactors built from scratch in the U.S. in more than three decades. Unit 3 has been in service since last July and once Unit 4 is complete, the two reactors combined will produce enough electricity to power 1 million homes, without adding heat-trapping carbon pollution to the atmosphere.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
