Construction officially started on unit 3 of the Vogtle nuclear power plant on 14 March. It is the second Westinghouse AP1000 reactor to begin construction in the United States, after VC Summer unit 2 just four days earlier.
The concrete basemat for Vogtle 3 was poured in around 41 hours, according to a statement from Georgia Power, which owns the reactor project near Waynesboro, Georgia along with its utility partners.
"The first components for erecting the unit 3 containment vessel are completed and staged for installation once the basemat concrete has cured," Georgia Power announced.
It said that unit 3 is "scheduled to go on line in 2017, and unit 4 will follow in 2018." The units were initially expected to start-up a year earlier.
Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company, is overseeing construction and will operate the two new 1100-megawatt AP1000 units for Georgia Power (45.7% owner) and co-owners Oglethorpe Power Corporation, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities.
Westinghouse CEO Danny Roderick noted "this has been a week of momentous progress" in bringing a new generation of safe, clean, reliable nuclear energy to the United States.
Photo caption: Approximately 7000 cubic yards of concrete was placed at Plant Vogtle Unit 3. Photo courtesy PRNewsFoto/Georgia Power