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Promises of easier nuclear construction fall short

In this Friday, June 13, 2014 photo, Buzz Miller, executive vice president of nuclear development at Southern Co., stands in front of the high-pressure vessel that will be used in a new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. Before it started building, the nuclear industry promised its new generation of plants would be constructed using giant Lego-like modules that make building faster, cheaper and produce a higher-quality result. Instead, the Louisiana factory building these modules has failed to master quality control rules, stick to schedule or replicate the approved designs, adding time and significant cost to first-of-their-kind projects. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) In this Friday, June 13, 2014 photo, Buzz Miller, executive vice president of nuclear development at Southern Co., stands in front of the high-pressure vessel that will be used in a new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. Before it started building, the nuclear industry promised its new generation of plants would be constructed using giant Lego-like modules that make building faster, cheaper and produce a higher-quality result. Instead, the Louisiana factory building these modules has failed to master quality control rules, stick to schedule or replicate the approved designs, adding time and significant cost to first-of-their-kind projects. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

By Associated Press July 26, 2014 5 min read

WAYNESBORO, Ga. (AP) –

The U.S. nuclear industry has started building its first new plants in decades using prefabricated Lego-like blocks meant to save time and money and revive the once promising energy source.

So far, it’s not working.

Quality and cost problems have cropped up again, raising questions about whether nuclear power will ever be able to compete with other electricity sources. The first two reactors built after a 16-year lull, Southern Co.’s Vogtle plant in Georgia and SCANA Corp.’s VC Summer plant in South Carolina, are being assembled in large modules. Large chunks of the modules are built off-site, in an effort to improve quality and avoid the chronic cost overruns that all but killed the nuclear industry when the first wave of plants was being built in the 1960s and 1970s.

Analysts say engineers created designs that were hard or impossible to make, according to interviews and regulatory filings reviewed by The Associated Press. The factory in Louisiana that constructed the prefabricated sections struggled to meet strict quality rules. Utility companies got early warnings but proved unable to avoid the problems. Now the firms leading the project are phasing out the Louisiana factory for work on the biggest modules and contracting with new manufacturers.