Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power Co. delayed the in-service date for the first of two new units at the Vogtle Nuclear Plant until May or June.
During startup and pre-operational testing for Vogtle unit 3, Southern Nuclear Operating Co. Inc. identified vibrations associated with piping within the cooling system, prompting an initial delay to April. Those repairs are complete, Southern Chairman, President and CEO Tom Fanning said Feb. 16, but remediation is underway on other issues discovered during the work.
Initial criticality of unit 3 is now set for March or April, with an in-service projection of May or June.
The additional work will address issues with a valve, a flange and flow through the reactor's coolant pumps.
"When we go in to fix the vibration, that's when we saw this other stuff and we say 'Yeah, let's not push it, let's fix it,'" Fanning said during the company's fourth-quarter 2022 earnings call. "All of that takes time. ... Once you go nuclear and go critical, things become much tougher, so anything we know about, let's deal with it now. ... That's why we test. The purpose of the initial voyage, the test voyage, is to find problems. We allow for that within the schedule."
Georgia Power's share of the total capital cost forecast increased $201 million to fund the timeline pushbacks, completion of remaining work and testing, Fanning said.
Chris Womack, the chief executive of Georgia Power, will succeed Fanning as president and CEO of Southern later in the year, the company announced in January.
Unit 4
Issues discovered on unit 3 are also being investigated and addressed on unit 4, Fanning said. Cold hydro testing for unit 4 was completed in December 2022, hot functional testing is expected to begin in March or April, and fuel load is set for this summer, according to the company's presentation.
"The process we went through in unit 3 at times was somewhat painful, but I think it was certainly instructive," Fanning said.
Unit 4 has had a marked improvement in testing results compared to unit 3, Fanning said, but even with improved results, slower-than-planned testing productivity has cut into the schedule. The unit 4 site working schedule still includes a couple of months of margin for a 2023 in-service date, but the company ultimately has pushed back unit 4 to late in the fourth quarter of 2023 or the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The Georgia Public Service Commission is expected to begin the process of prudence review for Vogtle costs upon fuel load of unit 4.
Georgia Power owns a 45.7% interest in the Vogtle plant. Other owners are Oglethorpe Power Corp. at 30%, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia at 22.7% and the City of Dalton Georgia at 1.6%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Southern Nuclear will operate the new unit on behalf of the co-owners.
Results
Southern reported 2022 adjusted earnings of $3.9 billion, or $3.60 per share, compared to $3.6 billion, or $3.41 per share, in 2021. For the fourth quarter of 2022, the company reported adjusted earnings of $285 million, or 26 cents per share, compared to $380 million, or 36 cents per share, during the same period of 2021. The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate was 24 cents for the fourth quarter and $3.58 for 2022.
The company reported a 2023 adjusted EPS guidance range of $3.55 to $3.65 and a long-term adjusted EPS growth estimate of 5% to 7% consistent with an adjusted EPS guidance range of $3.95 to $4.10 in 2024.
S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro.
