The Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, also known as Plant Vogtle (/ˈvoʊɡəl/), is a four-unit nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. It is named after a former Alabama Power and Southern Company board chairman, Alvin Vogtle. Each unit is a Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR), with a General Electric steam turbine and electric generator. Units 1 and 2 were completed in 1987 and 1989, respectively. Each unit has a gross electricity generation capacity of 1,215 MW, for a combined capacity of 2,430 MW. The twin natural-draft cooling towers are 548 ft (167 m) tall and provide cooling to the plant's main condensers. Four smaller mechanical draft cooling towers provide nuclear service cooling water (NSCW) to safety and auxiliary non-safety components, as well as remove the decay heat from the reactor when the plant is offline. One natural-draft tower and two NSCW towers serve each unit. In 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) renewed the licenses for both units for an additional 20 years to 1/16/2047 for Unit 1, and 2/9/2049 for Unit 2. During the construction of Vogtle's first two units, capital investment required jumped from an estimated $660 million to $8.87 billion. ($17.1 billion in 2021 dollars) Two additional units utilizing Westinghouse AP1000 reactors have been under construction since 2009. Natural-draft type cooling towers were also selected, and the two new cooling towers are nearly 600 ft (180 m) tall. The units have suffered several delays and cost overruns. The certified construction & capital costs for these two new units were originally $14 billion, according to the Seventeenth Semi-annual Vogtle Construction Monitoring Report in 2017. This last report blames the latest increase of costs on the contractor not completing work as scheduled. Another complicating factor in the construction process is the bankruptcy of Westinghouse in 2017. In 2018 costs were estimated to be about $25 billion. By 2021 they were estimated to be over $28.5 billion. Upon completion of Units 3 and 4 in 2023, Vogtle will become the largest nuclear power station in the United States.
