Southern’s N-project ‘unlikely’ to meet deadlines

Bloomberg

Southern Co’s long troubled project to expand its Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia is “highly unlikely” to meet its state deadlines and is apt to face additional budget overruns, according to a local monitor.
The company isn’t on pace to complete the two reactors by November 2021 and November 2022 deadlines approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission, Don Grace, a vice president for the Vogtle Monitoring Group, said in a filed testimony. He also estimated that the project’s cost would exceeded its current $17.1 billion target.
It would be yet another blow for the Vogtle expansion, which began in 2009, has already doubled in price and is running more than five years behind schedule. The monitoring group’s analysis doesn’t even take into account the impact of the coronavirus. It was completed in mid-March, before Southern and its partners slashed the workforce by 20% in April after dozens fell ill.
Southern’s strategy to speed up testing before finishing much of the construction led to inefficiency and higher costs, according to the report. The company “erroneously concluded that deviation from normal industry practice would shorten the schedule,” Grace said.
Jeff Wilson, a spokesperson for Southern’s Georgia Power unit, said Vogtle remains on schedule and at budget.