A monitor tasked with independently evaluating Southern Co.’s already delayed Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant nuclear expansion project has found that the utility is “highly unlikely” to meet the most recent November 2021 and November 2022 in-service dates for the two new reactors. Poor construction productivity and schedule delays will also cause Southern to exceed the projected $17.1 billion cost of the project, according to Donald Grace, vice president of engineering for the Vogtle Monitoring Group. The group has been conducting independent reviews of the Vogtle project since April 2018. Approved by regulators in 2009, units 3 and 4 at the Burke County, Ga., facility — majority-owned by Southern subsidiary Georgia Power Co. — were originally expected to […]