Southern Nuclear has completed all 364 of its inspections, tests, analyses and acceptance criteria (ITAAC) required for its fourth Vogtle reactor unit in Burke County, Georgia Power announced Friday morning.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires completed ITAACs from nuclear power plants to ensure safety standards, verifying them before each fuel load.
Southern Nuclear will be able to load fuel and begin the startup sequence for Unit 4 once it receives documentation from the NRC that all the nuclear operation license criteria have been met, called the 103(g) findings.
The 103(g) findings are a reference to a section in the NRC code of federal regulations, saying, “The licensee shall not operate the facility until the Commission makes a finding that the acceptance criteria in the combined license are met.”
All 157 fuel assemblies required for Unit 4 reactor have been delivered to the site, states Georgia Power. Each fuel assembly measuring 14 feet tall was inspected and transferred to the new fuel storage racks before being placed into the spent fuel pool, where all the assemblies will be stored until they are loaded into the Unit 4 reactor during fuel load.
Hot functional testing for Unit 4, the last test before the first fuel load, began in March, two weeks after Unit 3 reached initial criticality. Georgia Power said in March that the The Unit 4 Reactor is scheduled to go into service by the end of the year or early next year.
The new Vogtle Units are planned to deliver energy to some 2.7 million customers, including those of Georgia Power, who co-owns the company alongside MEAG Power, Oglethorpe Power and Dalton Utilities.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
