Construction Begins on Vogtle Containment Vessels (Video)

Construction is progressing at Vogtle 3 and 4, the first new nuclear power plant to be built in the U.S. in 30 years. Plant Vogtle is located near Waynesboro, Georgia. It will consist of two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors.

Land has been cleared, cranes delivered and work on the containment vessels is underway. 

The bottom head plates for Unit 4's containment vessel arrived from Japan earlier this fall. The plates for Unit 3 arrived about a year ago. Each of the containment vessels will be 131 feet in diameter, rise about 213 feet tall, and will weigh 4,000 tons. Each containment vessel is assembled in five sections before being moved over to the nuclear island. Chicago Bridge and Iron was awarded the contract to fabricate and assemble both the Unit 3 & 4 containment vessels on the job site.

The accompanying video shows construction progress at the Vogtle site during the third quarter of this year, including delivery of the containment vessel panels at the Port of Savannah, transport to the site and initial construction.

Video courtesy of Southern Company.