Startup of Unit 4 makes Vogtle the largest source of carbon-free power on U.S. electric grid
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/JvP3v8aAeMY?si=n0DAnjWLPE_V6ENj
Waynesboro, GA - May 31, 2024
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Thank you, Jeff [Quick].
Wow. It is great to be here. And Chris, I just want to footstomp all of the acknowledgments and the thank yous that you went through, as well.
I think that every Secretary of Energy—and I’m looking at two of them right here—since 2005 has visited this site. But I’m lucky enough to be able to see all four units up and running.
This facility really exists today because, as you know, over a decade ago, a group of visionary leaders made a commitment to meeting the energy needs of Georgia’s residents—not for just a year, not for just five years, but for decades to come.
Even though this would be the first construction of this reactor design, they knew that the plant would safely power this region’s economy for generations. The economy.
These visionaries—many of whom are in this room—were the generals who drew up the battle plans for this construction.
Betting on new designs, new industries, new technologies—it takes guts! But it pays off.
This project is a prime example of how first-of-a-kind challenges can become “nth-of-a-kind” successes, thanks to the work of those who came before and public-private partnerships.
Some first-mover projects are too big, they’re too financially risky, they’re too much for the private sector to do by itself.
But these same kinds of projects are too important for our nation to fail to act.
These reactors are the result of lots of collaboration between industry and the Department of Energy.
Starting with the science and research that led to safer and more efficient advanced reactor designs...
Through a long collaboration between our Office of Nuclear Energy and Westinghouse to support the licensing of the AP1000 reactor...
And then financing, as was mentioned, from the Department’s Loan Programs Office—starting back in 2014, even before Jigar Shah—to build these first two AP1000 reactors.
In fact, years of cooperation—between LPO, and Southern Company, and Westinghouse, and Bechtel, and NABTU, and Burke County and countless Georgia leaders—all got us to this moment.
Years of persistence—through long workdays, and cost challenges, and bankruptcy, and a global pandemic—years of persistence got us to this moment.
And the road hasn’t been easy, obviously, as you know. But the good times and the hard times are a down payment on 80 years of 24/7 clean power.
[Applause]
So, I know you know, and it’s been said: Vogtle 3 and 4 are the first [nuclear] reactors built from scratch in the United States in more than a generation.
This completion of Unit 4, as everybody has said, makes this the largest nuclear power plant, the largest producer of clean energy, and the largest producer of electricity in the United States, period. You know the stats.
Each year, Units 3 and 4 are going to produce enough clean power to power 1 million homes and businesses, enough energy to power roughly 1 in 4 homes in Georgia.
Preventing 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually.
That, by the way, is like planting more than 165 million trees every year!
And that’s not to mention the historic investments that Southern has made on the safety front, to ensure this facility meets—and exceeds—the highest operating standards in the world.
The safety of this site—from the early days of construction to today—is really a credit to John Williams and his team, to Sean McGarvey and our NABTU partners, and to the more than 35,000 people who have been boots on the ground at this project.
At peak construction, I understand, there were 9,000 workers on site. Units 3 and 4 are going to support more than 800 union workers moving forward.
And as Jeff and others can attest, these are great jobs!
Jobs that people want to get. Jobs that people want to grow in. Jobs that parents want for their kids. Jobs you can raise a family on.
And they’re going to be around for the next 80 years!
The story, by the way, is the same nationwide. Nuclear plants offer salaries that are 30% higher than local averages. You know, those salaries—these projects drive more job growth than any other kind of energy facility, nuclear does.
But the benefits of nuclear don’t end there!
Plants like this one, obviously, are economic magnets, because clean, 24/7 power is now irresistible to companies that are looking to build big manufacturing facilities, big data centers.
Those facilities mean even more jobs and even greater opportunities!
And all of that, of course, means an influx [of] tax dollars for communities like Waynesboro. Studies actually show that nuclear plants like Vogtle can fund up to half of local county and school budgets.
Southern Company and Waynesboro, they have led the way here. But it is now time for others to follow their lead.
To reach our goal of net zero by 2050, we have to at least triple our current nuclear capacity in this country. That means we’ve got to add 200 more gigawatts by 2050. Okay, two down, 198 to go!
In building [Unit] 4, we’ve solved our greatest design challenges. We’ve stood up entire supply chains. We—I say “we,” you all—have trained thousands of skilled workers.
And so it’s time to cash in on our investments by building more. More of these facilities.
DOE’s Loan Programs Office stands ready to help, with hundreds of billions of dollars in what we call Title 17 loans.
President Biden’s agenda delivers these irresistible incentives, from zero-emission nuclear production tax credits, to $2.5 billion for Advanced Reactor Demonstrations, to irresistible investment tax credits—in some cases, up to 50%!—for building new nuclear facilities.
Since the President signed the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, companies across the nation have announced 29 new or expanded nuclear facilities—across 16 states—representing about 1,600 potential new jobs.
And the majority of those projects will expand the domestic uranium production and fuel fabrication, strengthening these critical supply chains for plants like Vogtle.
But you know, we have built and secured $3.4 billion to build this entire uranium fuel strategy in the United States, so that we’re not reliant on Russia for Low-Enriched Uranium [LEU] or High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium [HALEU].
We are the ones keeping the—we are hoping that you’re the ones, I’ll say—keeping the existing fleet online. But we’re helping. Because for all of these facilities, we have a civil nuclear credit of $6 billion dollars, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Bottom line is, in short, we are determined to build a world-class nuclear industry in the United States, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is.
Southern has led the way, and now we need other utilities and buyers of clean power to enlist.
For decades, the power of the atom has been used to protect us, with a nuclear deterrent that is safe, secure and effective.
The power of the atom is also being used to protect us in this important way—by providing clean and reliable power to our electricity grid. In fact, President Eisenhower referred to it as “atoms for peace.”
Producing U.S.-generated clean electrons benefits our homeland’s security.
Our people, our homes, our businesses are more secure with ample, clean, baseload power. We’re more secure when we are less subject to climate change-fueled extreme weather events. We’re more secure when we can reduce carbon pollution.
So, these reactors are part of our national security and our clean energy future.
To all of you who dreamed and toiled to make this happen: you are both the generals and the foot soldiers on the front line in this battle against the most relentless foe, which is climate change.
Thank you for your guts.
Thank you for your service to Georgia.
Thank you for your service to our nation in providing this arsenal of clean power.
Now, let’s draw up some more battle plans for some more reactors.
I don’t know about you, but I, for one, am reporting for duty.
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