Georgia is marking five decades of nuclear power generation, with the state's two nuclear plants now supplying roughly 25 percent of its electricity each year. Plant Hatch near Vidalia and Plant Vogtle near Augusta form the backbone of that carbon-free generation, anchoring the grid across the Southeast.
Plant Vogtle has become central to the story after a major expansion. Unit 3 entered commercial operation in July 2023 and Unit 4 in April 2024, giving the site a power capacity of 4,536 megawatts and making it the largest nuclear power plant in the United States. Since starting up, the new units have operated at or above industry average for reliability.
Operational management has reflected careful planning. In a recent cycle, Unit 4 completed its first refueling outage, and through strategic fuel planning Southern Nuclear delayed that planned outage until the fall, allowing the unit to keep running during the hottest summer months when electricity demand peaks.
The plant's ownership is shared across the state's utility system. Plant Vogtle is jointly owned by Georgia Power at 45.7 percent, Oglethorpe Power Corporation at 30 percent, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia at 22.7 percent, and Dalton Utilities at 1.6 percent. As data center growth and electrification raise power demand across the region, the Vogtle units provide a large, steady source of baseload generation that supports grid reliability for Georgia and neighboring states.
Source: Georgia Power - https://www.georgiapower.com/news-hub/press-releases/50-years-clean-reliable-nuclear-energy.html