U.S. nuclear regulators have launched an extra review into problems with the installation of crucial electrical cable systems at Plant Vogtle’s expansion and how Southern Company responded to those issues.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said its regional team this week began a special inspection, the first of its kind in more than a decade of construction on the Georgia project.
It comes as two of Southern’s subsidiaries, Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear, were supposed to be within months of finishing the first of two new reactors. The project is already years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.
“We conduct a special inspection when something out of the ordinary and significant occurs where the agency wants to ensure there’s a full understanding of the issue,” NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said.
The special inspection is an expansion beyond the NRC’s routine inspections.