Nuclear generation supplies roughly 25 percent of Georgia electricity each year from two sites, Plant Hatch near Vidalia and Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, according to Georgia Power. The two plants have run at an average capacity factor of 94 percent over the past decade.
Georgia nuclear units have produced more than 1.2 billion megawatt-hours of net generation since 1975. Georgia Power puts that total at enough electricity to serve the entire United States for more than 100 consecutive days.
Hatch Unit 1 entered commercial operation in December 1975 and reached 50 years of continuous service this year. Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the first new commercial reactors finished in the United States in three decades, passed the one-year anniversary of project completion this past spring.
Both plants are co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities. Southern Nuclear operates the sites on behalf of the owners.
Southern Nuclear employs more than 2,600 people across Hatch and Vogtle, and the two plants have provided full-time work for an estimated 18,000 people over the decades. Combined, they pay more than $85 million in property taxes each year, money that supports local schools, roads and other infrastructure.
Georgia Power said work continues with the Georgia Public Service Commission and other stakeholders on extending operating licenses and pulling additional megawatts from the existing units. Southern Nuclear installed enhanced accident tolerant fuel technology at Hatch in 2018 and higher-uranium-enriched fuel at Vogtle Units 1 and 2 earlier this year, a change the company said will alter the fuel cycle for existing and future reactor designs.
Source: Georgia Power - https://www.georgiapower.com/news-hub/press-releases/50-years-clean-reliable-nuclear-energy.html