- Georgia state regulators say there's a "high probability" that Southern Co.'s (SO -0.3%) Vogtle nuclear plant now under construction will be delayed even longer than the expected three years, according to an AP report.
- SO subsidiary Georgia Power and its co-owners are building two more nuclear reactors at Vogtle in eastern Georgia, but earlier this year the consortium designing and building the plant - Westinghouse and Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI +5.9%) - said the construction schedule would be delayed by more than three years; those companies remain locked in a legal dispute about who should pay the resulting costs.
- That schedule may prove a best-case scenario, according to a recent analysis by a nuclear engineer working with utility regulators at the Georgia Public Service Commission.
- Georgia Power, which owns a 46% stake in the plant, originally expected to spend $6.1B on its share of the project, but the latest estimates from regulators put the company's costs at $8.2B.