DOE providing loan guarantees for new reactors in Georgia

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2017 - DOE is making available $3.7 billion in loan guarantees to support the construction of two nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia. The guarantees will be divided among the owners of the plant: $1.67 billion is earmarked for Georgia Power Company, $1.6 billion for Oglethorpe Power Corporation, and $415 million to three subsidiaries of Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG). DOE has already guaranteed $8.3 billion in loans to support construction of Vogtle Units 3 and 4. “I believe the future of nuclear energy in the United States is bright and look forward to expanding American leadership in innovative nuclear technologies,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry said. The Vogtle project – two new 1,100 megawatt Westinghouse AP1000 reactors – is the first new nuclear project to be licensed and to begin construction in the U.S. in more than three decades. Once online, the reactors are expected to provide more than 17 million megawatt-hours of clean electricity annually. This is enough reliable electricity to power more than 1.6 million American homes while avoiding nearly 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Backers of another nuclear power plant project in South Carolina that recently fell through had asked for help but didn’t get it, largely because they asked for a grant and not a loan guarantee.