Troubled nuclear project to continue

ATLANTA — Georgia’s utility regulators are allowing construction to continue on two new nuclear reactors, despite massive cost overruns for the multibillion-dollar project.

Thursday’s unanimous decision by the state’s Public Service Commission will shape the future of the nation’s nuclear industry, partly because the reactors at Plant Vogtle were the first new ones to be licensed and to begin construction in the U.S. since 1978.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal praised the decision.

“Investing in clean, sustainable energy infrastructure is a worthwhile endeavor that will have a positive economic impact as well,” Deal said in a statement shortly after Thursday’s vote. “It is important that we stay the course,” he added.

The project has been plagued by delays and spiraling costs, compounded when the main contractor filed for bankruptcy. Westinghouse Electric Co., the U.S. nuclear unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., filed for bankruptcy in March.

The reactors, approved in 2012, were initially estimated to cost $14 billion. Regulators tried to make nuclear reactors easier to build, encouraging the use of off-the-shelf designs that could get approval in advance. New construction techniques were supposed to require less in-the-field assembly, making building quicker and reducing human error.

But by July 2012, the reactors had run into over $800 million in extra charges related to licensing delays. Later that year, officials said construction was expected to be delayed seven months.