The Vogtle project already is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, with customers at risk of having to cover those cost. State staffers and independent monitors have warned about the potential for still more delays, even before factoring in effects from the pandemic.
In the spring, with coronavirus cases growing and worker absenteeism rising, Georgia Power took steps to increase social distancing by cutting nearly 2,000 of the 9,000 workers on site, though it said it was speeding up some departures that would have taken place anyway.
So far, more than 1,000 Vogtle workers have tested positive during the pandemic, according to the company’s latest filing. That’s up from more than 800 in late August. Still, the company reported that the number of positive cases has declined in recent months.
About 6,600 Vogtle workers isolated at some point after potentially being in close contact to someone with the virus.
Union officials have praised the company for virus-fighting measures it enacted.
Meanwhile, Georgia Power’s continued shifts in predictions about when it will complete scheduled Vogtle milestones have made it “impossible to determine where the project really stands,” said Kurt Ebersbach of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has represented groups critical of Vogtle’s impact on consumers and the state.
The PSC’s five elected members will decide how much of Vogtle’s cost overruns will end up in the bills of customers of Georgia Power, a government regulated monopoly. Two seats on the PSC board are open for election in November, and there are six candidates running.
Read More: Progress slips again at Vogtle nuclear plant