SACE has clearly stated the irony of the nuclear power plant that did as much as any to kill the atomic bandwagon in the 1970s and 1980s -- a poster child for cost overruns -- now being poised to receive the first nuclear loan guarantee from the Energy Dept. This will put billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money at risk, and makes no sense whatsoever given the "rising financial risks, reduced demand for power, cheaper renewables and huge potential of energy efficiency."
Decades ago, Vogtle originally planned to build four reactors, at an estimated cost of $660 million. This price tag skyrocketed to $8.87 billion for just the two currently operating reactors at Vogtle. Thus, rather than the original $165 million per reactor prediction, the actual costs came out to be $4.435 BILLION per reactor, a nearly 27-fold cost overrun! Thus, as stated by Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, “Huge cost overruns at the original Plant Vogtle likely played a role in putting the brakes on nuclear expansion plans pursued decades ago in the United States.”
Despite this shocking history, Vogtle plans to build two more reactors, at U.S. taxpayer and regional ratepayer financial risk, compliments of the Energy Dept. loan guarantee and the State of Georgia's allowing for Construction Work in Progress charges on electricity bills (illegal in most other states).