Contract for work is signed

The owners of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant on Tuesday announced they have signed a contract with the consortium that would build the two proposed nuclear reactors at the facility.

Months of tense negotiations between Georgia Power, the majority owner, and the consortium over the cost of the proposed reactors had threatened to derail the project, which could double the facility's employment to 1,800 and create thousands of temporary construction jobs.

Georgia Power, the majority owner, said the agreement with Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and The Shaw Group Inc.'s Power Group will allow it to file for approval of the AP1000 units with the Georgia Public Service Commission.

"If the PSC approves, we are going forward with the new units," Georgia Power spokeswoman Carol Boatright said.

The Vogtle expansion project still requires federal approval. Last month Southern Nuclear Operating Co., a sister company of Georgia Power that runs the plant, filed an application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license for the new units. Approval is expected next year and the reactors could begin operation in 2016-2017.

Georgia Power said it would not disclose the cost of the reactors until after it has filed its plan with the PSC on May 1. The company negotiated on behalf of the plant's minority owners, Oglethorpe Power, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities. The two new units will generate approximately 1,100 megawatts each and, when combined with the facility's two existing reactors, would make Plant Vogtle one of the nation's biggest nuclear power plants.

Reach Damon Cline at (706) 823-3486 or damon.cline@augustachronicle.com.