Debate over financial risks for Georgia nuclear plant
- Georgia Power is fighting a proposal that would cut its profits if the cost of building a nuclear power plant runs over-budget.
Georgia Power Members of the state's Public Service Commission PSC will soon meet amid a debate over who should pay the bills if the cost of building two more reactors at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro is more than expected.
A senior PSC staff member has proposed the risk should be split between the electric company and its customers. Under that plan, Georgia Power would get a boost in its earnings for finishing Plant Vogtle under budget. If costs go too high, the utility's profits would be reduced.
Georgia Power executives say the plan could penalize the company without taking into account the reason for cost overruns.
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WASHINGTON - Inside the Transient Reactor Test Facility, a towering, windowless gray block surrounded by barbed wire, researchers are about to embark on a mission to solve one of humanity’s greatest problems with a tiny device.
Next year, they will begin construction on the MARVEL reactor. MARVEL stands for Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation. It’s a first-of-a-kind nuclear power generator, cooled with liquid metal and producing 100 kilowatts of energy. By 2024, researchers expect MARVEL to be the zero-emissions engine of the world’s first nuclear microgrid at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
“Micro” and “tiny,” of course, are relative. MARVEL stands 15…
