Recent construction at the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant expansion project included a 71-hour continuous concrete placement and the lift of the 237-ton CA03 module for unit 4.

In an Oct. 6 news release, Georgia Power Co., a co-owner of the facility, touted the progress as "construction milestones."

The concrete placement included 1,844 cubic yards of concrete being poured into the refueling cavity, the bottom of the in-containment refueling water storage tank, the west steam generator cubicle walls and the pressurizer cubicle walls of the unit 3 containment vessel, according to the news release.

Recent development at the Burke County, Ga., facility also involved lifting the CA03 module, described as a critical component, into unit 4's in-containment refueling water storage tank; placement of the CA33 floor module for unit 3; and positioning the Vogtle Unit 4 de-aerator, which functions like a water purifier and prevents corrosion, inside the turbine building.

Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power recently received the Georgia Public Service Commission's approval for its $8 billion capital program, roughly a quarter of which will be allocated to the Vogtle expansion project. The PSC is scheduled to decide in February 2018 whether to approve the Vogtle expansion project's revised cost estimates and construction schedule.