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Thread: Vogtle Nuke Miss 2021 Deadline

  1. #1
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    Default Vogtle Nuke Miss 2021 Deadline

    I'm shocked...

    https://www.enr.com/articles/50813-g...085H1241156J5N

    Georgia's Vogtle Nuke Project Likely to Miss 2021 In-Service Deadline

    Less than a year out from the first in-service deadline for its new nuclear units, Georgia Power needs the Bechtel-led project team to do something that’s never been done at the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion—meet an ambitious construction schedule.

    Timely completion of work needed to meet the November 2021 Commercial Operational Date (COD) for Vogtle’s Unit 3 would represent a significant, near-miraculous turnaround of the long-troubled project. But it’s not something that project monitors believe will happen, according to testimony recently submitted to the Georgia Public Service Commission.

    Indeed, more than seven-and-a-half years into construction of the two new nuclear units, and 11 years since the project’s inception, the latest revised schedule could turn out to be just as unrealistic as its predecessors.

    “Since inception of the project in 2009, all [Integrated Project Schedule] iterations have been overly aggressive and unachievable,” according to testimony submitted Nov. 24 by Steven Roetger and William Jacobs, project monitors working for the Georgia PSC.

    “The history of the project has shown that the COD projected by SNC (Southern Nuclear Company) have ultimately been required to be delayed,” the monitors continued, concluding that “there still exists a high likelihood of the COD not being achievable.”

    COVID-19 has slowed progress. According to project owner Georgia Power, as of Oct. 20, more than 1,000 workers had tested positive. In turn, those positive cases necessitated isolating approximately 6,600 workers for a minimum of 14 days, resulting in cost impacts of between $150 million and $250 million, the utility says.

    Despite the hurdles, Georgia Power remains publicly committed to its schedule, as noted in October testimony jointly submitted by Georgia Power’s David McKinney, senior vice president, and Jeremiah Haswell, director of project oversight. Haswell testified that “while the pandemic continues to impact the project, based on current information and projections, we believe that the project will be able to bring Unit 3 and Unit 4 online by the regulatory-approved in-service dates of November 2021 and November 2022.”

    Further schedule slippage could increase the Unit 3 and 4 expansion’s total project cost. SNC currently estimates it as $17.1 billion, and slippage could add roughly $2 billion, adds Don Grace, vice president with the Vogtle Monitoring Group.

    A Different Approach
    Both PSC staff monitors and Grace fault the utility’s focus on milestones rather than percentage of completion, number of finished pre-operational tests and completed work packages.

    Focusing on completed systems tests or the setting of the Unit 3 containment shield fail to provide a true measure of progress, they say.

    “We do not believe that the accomplishment of major milestones in isolation is an appropriate way to gauge the overall progress of the project. Metrics including construction percent complete,” argue staff monitors Roetger and Jacobs, and the “… number of preoperational tests completed and number of systems turned over to operations provide a more comprehensive and better indication of the overall status of the project.”

    One of those metrics, the closure of work packages, continues to challenge contractors.

    The PSC staff monitors noted, for instance, that as of mid-October, SNC reported there were 9,741 open work packages for Vogtle Unit 3. Citing an internal Georgia Power report, Roetger and Jacobs further noted that to meet the schedule, SNC would need to more than double the current weekly closure rate of about 200 to more than 450 per week in order to close all remaining 1,900-plus work packages related to the Hot Functional Testing (HFT) milestone.

    Testing should await completion of concrete and steel work, said Grace.

    In testimony submitted to the PSC on Nov. 24, Grace criticized SNC’s approach to construction for the continuing delays, asserting that “a primary root cause of poor productivity and production is due to SNC’s strategy of accelerating testing prior to completion of civil work and a greater degree of the bulk construction commodities which then leads to inefficient and costly execution of construction.”

    “To the contrary,” Grace continued, “SNC erroneously concluded that deviation from normal industry practice would both (a) shorten the schedule while at the same time (b) allow for completion of the project within the estimated TPC (total project cost).

    Grace further asserted that SNC sometimes uses alternative measures to achieve a major milestone.

    Wire pulls were a concern. “VMG believes that the extensive use of ‘partial releases for test’ … in many cases to support a nearer-term schedule milestone, can lead to pulling and terminating single cables versus doing bulk pulls of all cables,” resulting in multiple cable runs along a single route, requiring more worker hours.

    Additionally, although Grace couldn’t prove it, he testified that this approach has likely caused damage to cables, necessitating re-work related to replacing cables and re-opening sealed wall penetrations.

    Peril for Ratepayers
    For their part, Georgia Power and executives of SNC—a division of the utility—maintain in testimony to the PSC that the approach they are taking to construction offers the best chance for meeting the looming certified operational date deadlines.

    “Project leadership acknowledges that our expected case for Unit 3 is challenging and Unit 4’s site work plan is aggressive,” stated SNC CEO Stephen Kuczynski, and Aaron Abramovitz, vice president of Plant Vogtle.

    But the leaders “continue to believe that working toward a challenging schedule is necessary to maintain the focus and drive of the project, identify and mitigate risks early, and ultimately support the project’s objective of meeting the regulatory-approved in-service dates for Units 3 and 4.”

    Either way, the current certified operational dates are roughly five years later than the original targets of 2016 and 2017, respectively. And the resulting increase in total costs will definitely be felt by Georgia Power’s ratepayers.

    Testimony submitted by a team of financial analysts, led by the PSC’s Director of Utility Finance Tom Newsome, put it in perspective.

    They noted that once the new units become operational, Georgia Power will likely request to add roughly $8.1 billion to its rate base—or about 83 percent more than the $4.4 billion that was assumed at the time of certification.

    As the Newsome team summarized, “In conclusion, ratepayers will pay substantially more both prior to and after the units begin providing service due to the delays and cost overruns.”

    Notably, once the units are online, a prudency review by the Georgia PSC could disallow certain costs, reducing the amount Georgia Power could charge its customers.

  2. #2
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    Nobody will be surprised by delays and cost overruns when it comes to nuclear power plant construction.

    Just get the reactors fired up and throw the breaker...
    Last edited by Drylok; 12-03-2020 at 08:13 AM.

  3. #3
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    Should be near completion just as Queen Kamala I issues an order for them to be shuttered.

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    https://www.enr.com/articles/51970-v...85H1241156J5N#

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has launched a “special inspection” of the reasons behind needed construction remediation work of installed electrical systems at Southern Nuclear Co.’s Vogtle Unit 3 construction project in Georgia. Initiated on June 21, the NRC effort will review Southern Nuclear’s actions after discovering the need for remediation of those systems and the company’s overall quality assurance processes.

    Specifically, NRC inspectors will focus on the electrical cable raceway system, which consists of “conduits and cable trays designed to route and support the cables needed to ensure safety-related equipment is powered to perform its safety functions,” according to the agency.

    The broader review will look into SNC’s “root cause investigation, corrective actions, construction quality assurance process and any potential implications for Unit 4.”

    NRC spokesperson Dave Gasperson notes to ENR that a special inspection is “the lowest level of our ‘reactive’ inspections,” adding: “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.”

    Southern had previously identified the electrical cable raceway to the NRC as needing to be re-examined, Gasperson adds. “We’re going to review how Southern’s handling that, and how the company will apply what it learned to the Unit 4 construction.”

    Questions Over QA
    Testimony jointly submitted earlier this month by the Georgia Public Service Commission’s Steven Roetger and independent construction monitor William Jacobs addressed PSC questions about SNC’s oversight of Vogtle’s quality-assurance program (QAP). Notably, the pair of monitors noted that on several occasions, project personnel failed to initiate a "condition report" when unexpected events occurred during recent systems testing.

    For example, in late 2019, when testing two condensate system pumps, personnel "heard a loud bang, there was noticeable pipe movement and the Turbine Building shook." Despite that, Roetger and Jacobs' testimony noted that "none of the personnel present at the time initiated a Condition Report." Later, two pipe supports were found to have been damaged by the test.

    Roetger and Jacobs noted that, historically, “SNC’s role has been, to varying degrees, one of oversight of their contractors’ QAPs,” rather than managing these programs directly. That approach didn’t yield good results early on in the project, as monitors commented regarding Vogtle’s earlier contractors, that “it was apparent that neither Stone & Webster nor Westinghouse Electric Co. were capable of executing their respective programs.”

    Adding to that problem was the fact that SNC also “did not have adequate processes in place to maintain reasonable assurance that quality work was being performed,” and the result, say monitors, was that “first-time quality severely suffered.” That remains a problem, as monitors recently noted that the continued need for construction remediation work continues to hamper the project's progress.

    Moreover, SNC’s decision to monitor the QAPs being managed by other groups goes against NRC requirements that a licensee “shall retain responsibility” of such a program. Said Roetger and Jacobs: “In other words, NRC does not allow the abrogation of responsibility for the QAP simply because the contractual agreement between the Licensee and its contractors states so.”

    Commenting on the NRC’s launch of the special inspection, SNC spokesman Jeffrey Wilson told ENR: “Southern Nuclear welcomes NRC’s inspection of its construction activities and will be engaged in NRC’s inspection process.”

    The NRC expects it will take inspectors a “couple of weeks" to complete their work.
    Last edited by reeltight; 06-23-2021 at 05:58 AM.

  5. #5
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    Vogtle Nuclear Project in Georgia Is Delayed Again Over Rising Costs
    Owner Southern Co. blames lagging electrical system remediation work and ongoing craft labor shortages for the latest schedule adjustment.

  6. #6
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    So close but so far away is the saying
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  7. #7
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    This is not new technology as we have been building nuclear power plants for 80 years. Bechtel has been involved in most of these projects and knows what to do. The NEC delays are not predictable and are just a fact. Delays by poor construction management is like Georgia Power. Construction management is what brings a job in on time and under cost. Good management will also insure the contractors get paid and make on the project money.

  8. #8
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    Hell, they're remodeling/adding on to Skrom Thurmond and it's damn near 6 months behind schedule. (Complete with a leaky roof in the new wing) :facepalm:

    Y'all don't really expect a nuclear power plant to be on schedule do you?
    Last edited by FEETDOWN; 11-09-2021 at 08:56 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Mars Bluff View Post
    Only thing we need to be wearing in this country are ass whippings & condoms. That'll clear up half our issues.

  9. #9
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    It take about 30 years to build a plant from inception to completion. The longer it go on the more changes and rework will be required just by NEC changes to regulations and standards. That does not consider reword due to faulty work. Yes we expect delays in plant completion.

  10. #10
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    I am not entirely sure that we can create steel and rebar that meet nuclear construction standards in 2021...

  11. #11
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    We used to know how to build nuclear generators...50 years ago...


    https://www.wsj.com/articles/nuclear...26-11636056581
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



    Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.

  12. #12
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    The Navy has it figured out. Upsize the S8G plant and excite them electrons.

  13. #13
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    I am in the camp that says Vogtle will never open.
    F**K Cancer

    Just Damn.

  14. #14
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    The same type of fools that crying today about fossil fuel were bitching back in the 80's and 90's about nuclear power.

    Soon we will have neither.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by nitro5x6's View Post
    I am in the camp that says Vogtle will never open.
    Oh ye of little faith. Those boys over there see the SCANA guys going to prison. The fuckery has surely been curbed and they will be sending megawatts down the line soon...

  16. #16
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    What's a couple more billion?

    The long-delayed unit additions at the Alfred W. Vogtle Nuclear Power Station have a new estimated price tag of $32 billion to $34 billion, according to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

  17. #17
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    Better hurry, all them lectric cars and such gonna have to be charged
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  18. #18
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    Two of the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project's co-owners are trying to freeze their costs—and cut possible losses—as construction of the multi-billion dollar project in Waynesboro, Ga., nears completion.

    The two owners are suing their partner, Georgia Power, to halt their future outlays for the long-delayed plant expansion. The utilities adamantly disagree with Georgia Power by about $1.2 billion on what the estimated construction cost was set at during a critical agreement that kept the project moving forward.

    The suits by utilities Oglethorpe Power, which owns a 30% share, and MEAG Power, with a 22.7% stake—each filed on June 18—are based on a 2018 agreement that provides the partners a cap option if costs exceed a certain threshold.

  19. #19
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    It’s alive!

    Seven years late and $35B later unit 3 is producing power.

    Unit 4 expected to complete testing and startup April 2024.

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