The US nuclear power industry got a boost this week when state authorities in Georgia gave the go-ahead to complete construction on two new reactors. But this may not reverse the industry's recent decline. The Georgia Public Service Commission on Thursday approved construction of Vogtle reactors three and four, the last planned reactors of this type in the United States. A project in South Carolina was halted in July.
The two new reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia are expected to enter service at the end of 2022. "Demonstrating we can build and complete new nuclear plants here in America will help us regain our leadership in a technology we invented," Maria Korsnick, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, said in a statement.