As Georgia students prepare to return to classrooms this month, Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro continues to run around the clock to help keep the lights on, according to a report from WRDW/WAGT. Hundreds of employees staff the facility 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, monitoring operations, maintaining equipment, and protecting the site.
Plant Vogtle now operates four nuclear units, making it the largest nuclear power plant in the United States by generating capacity. Units 1 and 2 began operating in the late 1980s, while units 3 and 4 came online in 2023 and 2024 to help meet Georgia's growing demand for electricity. Together, the four units support nearly 2,000 permanent jobs.
Georgia Power projects 8,500 megawatts of load growth by the end of 2030 and says it will need more than 100 additional employees for new facilities. Plant officials noted that a significant number of current workers are the children of employees who started at the facility in the 1980s, describing a workforce built across generations.
August marks Generation Appreciation Month, a period utilities use to recognize the workers who keep power flowing. Plant officials pointed to the timing as notable, since schools depend on steady power for lights, projectors, laptops, and tablets as the school year begins.
The plant uses water from the Savannah River to cool steam back into water so the cycle can continue, with the visible vapor from its cooling towers consisting of water, not emissions. Plant Vogtle and the nearby Plant Hatch together supply about 29 percent of the electricity used in Georgia.
Source: WRDW/WAGT - https://www.wrdw.com/2026/08/03/plant-vogtle-powers-georgia-classrooms-students-head-back-school/