Georgia nuclear plant gets OK to load fuel at new reactor

By JEFF AMY
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Federal regulators say a nuclear power plant being built in Georgia can begin loading radioactive fuel into one of its two new reactors. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the approval Wednesday for Southern Nuclear Operating Co. at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro. It’s a key step toward generating electricity at the first new nuclear reactor built in decades in the United States. Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning told investors last week that the company hopes to begin loading fuel in October. The third reactor is supposed to begin generating power by next March. It was originally scheduled to start generation in 2016. The two new reactors are projected to cost more than $30 billion.