Georgia Power has received the first nuclear fuel shipment for the Vogtle-3 AP1000 nuclear power plant under construction in the state of Georgia.
The company said it expects to begin fuel loading in April 2021. In order to receive nuclear fuel, construction of specific areas of Unit 3 had to be completed and inspected, ensuring critical infrastructure, such as the fuel vault and spent fuel pool, meet construction quality and design requirements.
One of the last major milestones for Unit 3 is hot functional testing, which needs to take place before the fuel is loaded. Hot testing takes place over a number of weeks and consists of tests performed on major systems to check their performance under normal operational conditions, without any nuclear fuel assemblies in the reactor.
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