Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power Co. said the second containment vessel ring has been successfully placed inside the 1,100-MW Vogtle Nuclear Plant unit 3 expansion project in Burke County, Ga.

Weighing 2.4 million pounds, the containment vessel ring was developed on site and contains dozens of individual steel plates. The ring placement is the latest in a series of major construction milestones for the project in recent weeks, including the setting of the 612,000-pound unit 3 first reactor vessel and the 2 million-pound unit 4 CA01 module, according to a Dec. 13 release.

Southern Nuclear Operating Co. is overseeing the construction and will operate the 45.7% Georgia Power-owned projects. Oglethorpe Power Corp., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities are the co-owners.

The first new nuclear power plant to be built in the U.S. in three decades, the Vogtle plant is expected to provide power to more than 1 million homes and businesses in Georgia.