Department of Energy Loan Guarantees for Proposed Units 3 and 4 at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Burke County, GA

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to issue a loan guarantee to several applicants to support funding for construction and start-up of the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP), Units 3 and 4, an advanced nuclear generating facility for the production of electric power (the Project). The VEGP Units 3 and 4 would be located in a rural area in eastern Burke County, Georgia, which is already the site of two operating nuclear reactor units (VEGP Units 1 and 2). Georgia Power Corporation (GPC), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC), and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) have submitted separate applications for loan guarantees totaling $9.9 billion in response to a solicitation issued by DOE in 2008 under its authority established by Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. An organization consisting of Southern Nuclear Company (SNC), Southern Company Services (SCS), and GPC personnel was established to oversee and staff the Project. The new reactor units would be licensed to and operated by SNC. In addition to the generating facilities, the Project includes a transmission line that would be constructed to bring power from the switchyard for the new units to the Thomson substation 20 miles west of Augusta, Georgia. The transmission line right-of-way would be approximately 150 feet wide and 60 miles long and have a number of transmission towers and a maintenance road associated with it.