PITTSBURGH, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company today announced that it and its partner The Shaw Group Inc.'s Power Group have signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with Georgia Power to provide two Westinghouse AP1000(TM) nuclear power plants at the Alvin W. Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Ga.
Georgia Power, acting for itself and Plant Vogtle's co-owners in the agreement, is a subsidiary of Southern Company. Co-owners are Oglethorpe Power, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power), and Dalton Utilities.
Steve Tritch, Westinghouse president and CEO, said the contract, the first to be announced in the United States since before 1978, is significant because it further proves that the nuclear renaissance has moved beyond the planning stage.
"Nuclear power is now rightfully recognized as a clean, safe and economically competitive source of baseload generation that helps ensure U.S. energy independence," he said. "Agreements like the one announced today with Georgia Power will also ensure that the United States will have the power it will need to support long-term economic growth."
The new units would be constructed at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant site, where the Georgia utilities co-own two existing nuclear units (Units 1 and 2).
Georgia Power expects to submit the EPC contract to the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) May 1, 2008 as a self-build option in connection with its 2016-2017 capacity request for proposal. Through its Independent Evaluator, the Georgia PSC will review the EPC and competing base load generation bids.
Westinghouse believes the AP1000 is ideally suited for the worldwide nuclear power marketplace. The AP1000 is:
-- The safest, most advanced, yet proven nuclear power plant currently available in the worldwide marketplace -- Based on standard Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology that has achieved more than 2,500 reactor years of highly successful operation -- An 1100MWe design that is ideal for providing baseload generating capacity -- Modular in design, promoting ready standardization and high construction quality -- Economical to construct and maintain (less concrete and steel and fewer components and systems mean there is less to install, inspect and maintain) -- Designed to promote ease of operation (features most advanced instrumentation and control (I&C) in the industry)
For more information about the Westinghouse AP1000, visit its Web site at http://www.ap1000.westinghousenuclear.com/.
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is the world's pioneering nuclear power company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first PWR in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States.
