Officials question growth cost

ATLANTA --- The risk of cost overruns on Georgia Power's $6.4 billion proposal to add two nuclear reactors to Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro took center stage Wednesday as utility officials pitched the plan to the Public Service Commission.

Commissioners and manufacturers' groups pressed the officials for answers on whether the company had adequate safeguards to keep the project's cost in check, and whether nuclear power remains a cost-effective option in the changing political, financial and energy realms.

PSC staff asked utility officials whether delays in construction that push the expansion significantly past its planned 2017 start date would remove its cost benefits.

Jeff Burleson, Georgia Power's director of resource policy and planning, said the company can obtain federal insurance to protect against delays, and that its agreement with the reactors' builders allows it to pay fees to cancel the contract if the project becomes unreasonably expensive.

But Mr. Burleson stressed that advances in nuclear technology, construction and the regulatory environment make it unlikely that either will happen.

Still, there are many unknowns in a project that takes a decade to build and costs $14 billion, which is the total in which the project's partners will share.

"There's no way of knowing today with certainty what the actual cost could be," Mr. Burleson said.

Georgia Power would have a 45.7 percent stake in the plant, and partners Oglethorpe Power Corp., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities would share the remainder.

As part of the proposal, the utility wants to begin charging customers for construction beforehand.

That could shave off about $2 billion in capital costs by avoiding inflation.

The PSC's decision is expected in March. Federal approvals are expected in 2011.