Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle includes the first nuclear reactors constructed in the United States in over three decades. As states like New York and California deal with the consequences of decommissioning old plants, Plant Vogtle has quickly made a name for itself as a long-awaited step forward for American clean energy. Still, while new nuclear plants are a refreshing change, the fanfare around Vogtle’s new additions belies the fact that the technology itself doesn’t require massive technological improvements to make massive improvements in American clean energy. The deployment shows that years of insistence that nuclear energy required major technological advancements to be feasible might have been overcomplicating things all along, and that the path forward for nuclear energy can begin with what’s right in front of us.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) have received the lion’s share of media attention in terms of nuclear developments in recent years. The lower upfront capital investment and speculative decreased construction time make them attractive for scaling nuclear power in the United States, especially to geographies that are not currently suited to traditional plants. In short, SMRs are seen by many as a solution to the primary pain points of large-scale reactors.
Unfortunately, even though SMRs have seen promising political will, like in Virginia where Governor Youngkin included them as a featured part of his Virginia Power Innovation Fund, they’ve become a trickier policy to grapple with in the General Assembly. Virginia lawmakers, though cautiously optimistic about the prospect of SMRs in the state, also ended up hedging on the financial viability of the technology, amending legislation to protect customers’ electricity bills from potential runaway development costs. At the end of the day, SMRs are a bit of a tough sell for a reason: their advantages over existing technologies are also still largely hypothetical, and their risks are difficult to pitch to constituents who aren’t desperate for unproven energy options.
In contrast, the technology behind Plant Vogtle is proven with a decades-long resume. To be sure, it is the first U.S. deployment of the AP1000 Generation III+ reactor, a PWR by Westinghouse aimed at optimizing safety features and cost-friendly development, but the incremental improvements are a far cry from many of the more newsworthy technologies like SMRs or even nuclear fusion that have managed to dominate much of the popular conversation around the viability of nuclear energy.
Far from being a point against Vogtle, the fact that the plant isn’t waiting on R&D to get off the ground is key to its success. Trusted technology with updated safety features is the most politically expedient, financially predictable, and R&D-friendly way for nuclear energy to happen, especially with SMRs requiring more time to get fully off the ground. Other countries have realized this, too. Of the 24 similar AP1000 reactors planned, in construction, or in operation, only two make their home in the U.S. Over half are being contracted in Eastern Europe, namely Ukraine, as countries seek energy independence from Russia, while India alone is aiming for 6. Meanwhile, China already has 4 in operation and has contracted another 6. As America waits to embrace nuclear, our companies are busy building clean energy for our greatest adversary who already does.
Vogtle units 3 and 4, brought online in 2023 and May of this year, respectively, now make the plant the largest generator of clean energy in the United States. While advances in various nuclear technologies are exciting and in many cases promising, clean energy advocates in the U.S. should look to Georgia for a reminder of just how far the basics can take us.