Workers building new reactors at Georgia's Plant Vogtle have put in 10 million hours since the project received an early site permit in 2009, Southern Co. announced Tuesday.
The milestone follows visible progress on the turbine islands, cooling towers and nuclear islands for the two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. According to Southern, the unit 3 turbine building foundation is now two-thirds complete. About 50,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured for the cooling tower foundations, and the lower half of the unit 4 containment vessel is more than 50 percent complete.
The condensers for unit 3 have arrived at the site from Korea. Other major reactor components manufactured off site will begin arriving later this year, beginning with the reactor vessel for unit 3.
About 2,300 are currently working at the site near Augusta, Ga. At its peak, construction will employ about 5,000, which Southern said makes it the largest job-producing project in the state. After the reactors are operational in 2016 and 2017, they will require 800 permanent workers.
"We are all very proud of this accomplishment, which is an example of our uncompromising focus on safety and quality," Southern Nuclear Vice President Joseph "Buzz" Miller said in the announcement. "Significant progress is being made, safely, every day on this project, which is vital to meeting the state's future energy needs."