Local Nuclear Milestone

Federal regulators cleared the way earlier this month for Southern Company’s nuclear business to load radioactive fuel rods into one of its newly constructed reactors at Plant Vogtle just across the Savannah River in Georgia. This is a key step toward generating electricity at the first new nuclear reactor built in decades in the United States.

The approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is a pivotal step for Atlanta-based Southern Company and for the nuclear industry. Vogtle is the nation’s lone baseload nuclear construction project, and its two new reactors are the first to be built and approved under a federal regulatory approval process known as Part 52.

This NRC decision means the first new reactor at the nuclear plant south of Augusta, GA is on track to go into service next March after years of delays and cost overruns. During the next several weeks, technicians will continue work required to support loading fuel, which is already onsite, into the unit’s reactor. Several months of startup testing will follow, designed to demonstrate the integrated operation of the primary coolant system and steam supply system at design temperature and pressure with fuel inside the reactor.

Two existing reactors already operate at the Vogtle site in eastern Georgia, meaning the new facilities will be the location’s third and fourth nuclear units.

SRS Budget Briefings

Department of Energy (DOE) officials from the Savannah River Site (SRS) hosted two meetings to discuss the SRS budget and priorities planning. Mike Budney, Manager, DOE-SR, and Jason Armstrong, Manager, National Nuclear Security Administration -Savannah River Field Office, provided updates on how the current fiscal year budget is being spent and discussed the outlook for FY23. They also gained insight from community leaders and local elected officials on their priorities to potentially influence DOE’s budget request for FY24.

One meeting was held on August 10, 2022 in the Aiken area and another one on August 11, 2022 in the Barnwell area. These meetings followed a direction issued by Ike White on March 24, 2022. This memorandum was titled “Guidance on the Dissemination of Budget Information to External Stakeholders for the Office of Environmental Management’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request”. 

As stated in the document, the purpose of the memorandum was to transmit guidance for the formal, routine, and structured involvement of the public, including but not limited to federal and state regulators, Tribal Governments, local government officials, community groups, and Environmental Management (EM) Site-Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) members (herein collectively referred to as “stakeholders”) in the EM budget request process. This year’s guidance has been updated to clarify critical elements of the budget process and confirm restrictions on embargoed content that cannot be shared with stakeholders considering constraints posed by Office of Budget and Management (OMB) Circular A-11.

The memo goes on to state officials from the affected units of local government at each site should be engaged at the early stages of the budget development process to create a budget that meets cleanup needs. Field sites should brief local governments during the following budget stages: 

1.  following the release of budget requests, 
2.  following the receipt of an appropriation, and 
3.  during the budget development process. 

A special note stated that DOE budget presentations given to SSAB's or local Citizen Advisory Boards do not substitute for direct engagement with local governments.