Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 Construction Project | Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 Construction Project. We, Georgia Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and the City of Dalton, Georgia, acting by and through its Board of Water, Light and Sinking Fund Commissioners, doing business as Dalton Utilities (collectively, the Co-owners) are parties to an Ownership Participation Agreement that, along with other agreements, governs our participation in two additional nuclear units under construction at Plant Vogtle, Units No. 3 and No. 4. The Co-owners appointed Georgia Power to act as agent under this agreement. Our ownership interest and proportionate share of the cost to construct these units is 30%. Pursuant to this agreement, Georgia Power has designated Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. as its agent for licensing, engineering, procurement, contract management, construction and pre-operation services. In 2008, Georgia Power, acting for itself and as agent for the Co-owners, entered into an Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement (the EPC Agreement) with Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and Stone & Webster, Inc., which was subsequently acquired by Westinghouse and changed its name to WECTEC Global Project Services Inc. (collectively, Westinghouse). Pursuant to the EPC Agreement, Westinghouse agreed to design, engineer, procure, construct and test two 1,100 megawatt nuclear units using the Westinghouse AP1000 technology and related facilities at Plant Vogtle. Until March 2017, construction on Units No. 3 and No. 4 continued under the substantially fixed price EPC Agreement. In March 2017, Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Effective in July 2017, Georgia Power, acting for itself and as agent for the other Co-owners, and Westinghouse entered into a services agreement (the Services Agreement), pursuant to which Westinghouse is providing facility design and engineering services, procurement and technical support and staff augmentation on a time and materials cost basis. The Services Agreement provides that it will continue until the start-up and testing of Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 is complete and electricity is generated and sold from both units. The Services Agreement is terminable by the Co-owners upon 30 days' written notice. In October 2017, Georgia Power, acting for itself and as agent for the other Co-owners, entered into a construction completion agreement with Bechtel Power Corporation, pursuant to which Bechtel serves as the primary contractor for the remaining construction activities for Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 (the Bechtel Agreement). The Bechtel Agreement is a cost reimbursable plus fee arrangement, whereby Bechtel is reimbursed for actual costs plus a base fee and an at-risk fee, which is subject to adjustment based on Bechtel's performance against cost and schedule targets. Each Co-owner is severally, and not jointly, liable for its proportionate share, based on its ownership interest, of all amounts owed to Bechtel under the Bechtel Agreement. The Co-owners may terminate the Bechtel Agreement at any time for their convenience, provided that the Co-owners will be required to pay amounts related to work performed prior to the termination (including the applicable portion of the base fee), certain termination-related costs and, at certain stages of the work, the applicable portion of the at-risk fee. Bechtel may terminate the Bechtel Agreement under certain circumstances, including certain Co-owner suspensions of work, certain breaches of the Bechtel Agreement by the Co-owners, Co-owner insolvency and certain other events. Our current budget for our 30% ownership interest in Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 is $7.5 billion, which includes capital costs, allowance for funds used during construction, our allocation of the project-level contingency and a separate Oglethorpe-level contingency and is based on November 2021 and November 2022 commercial operation dates, respectively. As of June 30, 2020, our total investment in the additional Vogtle units was approximately $5.5 billion. We and some of our members have implemented various rate management programs to lessen the impact on rates when Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 reach commercial operation. The Georgia Public Service Commission approved in-service dates for Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 are November 2021 and November 2022, respectively. As part of its ongoing process, Southern Nuclear continues to evaluate cost and schedule forecasts on a regular basis to incorporate current information available, particularly in the areas of engineering support, commodity installation, system turnovers and workforce statistics. The August 2018 project-level budget included an $800 million construction contingency estimate, of which our 30% interest is $240 million. During the second quarter of 2020, approximately $425 million of construction contingency, which our 30% interest was $128 million, was assigned to the base capital cost forecast for cost risks including, among other things, construction productivity, including the April 2020 reduction in workforce designed to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic described below, field support, subcontracts, engineering resources and procurement. When combined with prior assignments of construction contingency, the second quarter 2020 assignment of contingency exceeded the remaining balance of the $800 million contingency by approximately $75 million, of which our 30% interest was $23 million. Through June 30, 2020, assignments of contingency for cost risks also have included, among other factors, construction productivity; craft labor incentives; adding resources for supervision, field support, project management, initial test program, start-up, and operations and engineering support; subcontracts; and procurement. As a result of these factors, Southern Nuclear established additional construction contingency of $250 million (of which our 30% interest is $75 million) for further potential risks, including, among other factors, construction productivity and expected impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; adding resources for supervision, field support, project management, initial test program, start-up, and operations and engineering support; subcontracts; and procurement. Georgia Power has stated its expectation to allocate the remainder of this project-level contingency by completion of the project. The project-level contingency is separate and in addition to our Oglethorpe-level contingency. The assignment of project-level contingency through June 30, 2020 and our $75 million share of the additional project-level contingency reduced the amount of our Oglethorpe-level contingency but did not change our current $7.5 billion budget. After taking into account the increase of project-level contingency, our remaining Oglethorpe-level contingency is $325 million. The Oglethorpe-level contingency, which we have carried at various levels since the beginning of the project, was designed to cover potential cost, schedule, and financing risks associated with our share of the project which may not be covered by project-level contingencies. As construction progresses, the Oglethorpe-level contingency may continue to fluctuate as it represents the difference between known project-level costs and contingencies and our total budget of $7.5 billion. At the end of the project, if there is remaining Oglethorpe-level contingency, we will adjust our project budget to remove this contingency and bill our members based on the actual project costs. The table below shows our project budget and actual costs through June 30, 2020 for our 30% interest in the project. (in millions) Project Budget Actual Costs at June 30, 2020 Remaining Project Budget Construction Costs (1) $ 5,524 $ 4,303 $ 1,221 Financing Costs 1,576 1,151 425 Total Costs $ 7,100 $ 5,454 $ 1,646 Project-Level Contingency $ 75 $ — $ 75 Oglethorpe-Level Contingency 325 — 325 Total Contingency $ 400 $ — $ 400 Totals $ 7,500 $ 5,454 $ 2,046 (1) Construction costs are net of $1.1 billion received from Toshiba Corporation under a Guarantee Settlement Agreement. In mid-March 2020, Southern Nuclear began implementing policies and procedures designed to mitigate the risk of transmission of COVID-19 at the construction site, including worker distancing measures, isolating individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19, are showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, are being tested for COVID-19, or have been in close contact with such persons, requiring self-quarantine, and adopting additional precautionary measures. In April 2020, Georgia Power, acting for itself and as agent for the other Co-owners, announced a reduction in workforce at Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4, which totaled approximately 20% of the then-existing site workforce. This reduction in workforce was a mitigation action intended to address ongoing challenges with labor productivity that were exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 workforce and construction site. The April 2020 workforce reduction was intended to provide operational efficiencies by increasing productivity of the remaining workforce and reducing workforce fatigue and absenteeism. Further, it was also intended to allow for increased social distancing by the workforce and facilitate compliance with the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The April 2020 workforce reduction did reduce absenteeism, providing an improvement in operational efficiency and allowing for increased social distancing. From the initial peak in April 2020, the number of active cases at the site declined significantly during May and early June, but began increasing again in mid-June and continues to impact productivity levels and pace of activity completion. As a result of these factors, overall production improvements have not been achieved at the levels anticipated, contributing to the allocation of, and increase in, construction contingency described above. Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power are pursuing an aggressive site work plan as a strategy to achieve completion of the units by their regulatory-approved in-service dates. In July 2020, Southern Nuclear updated its cost and schedule forecast, and indicated that it still expects to achieve the regulatory-approved in-service dates of November 2021 and November 2022 for Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Starting in February 2020, Southern Nuclear also began providing a schedule benchmark that forecasts production levels and adjusts project milestones to align with the regulatory-approved in-service dates. We believe the production levels and timeframes consistent with the assumptions in this benchmark provide reasonable assurance that Units No. 3 and No. 4 will meet the regulatory-approved in-service dates of November 2021 and November 2022, respectively, within our current $7.5 billion budget. As construction, including subcontract work, continues and testing and system turnover activities increase, risks remain that challenges with management of contractors and vendors; subcontractor performance; supervision of craft labor and related productivity, particularly in the installation of electrical, mechanical, and instrumentation and controls commodities, ability to attract and retain craft labor and/or related cost escalation; procurement, fabrication, delivery, assembly, installation, system turnover, and the initial testing and start-up, including any required engineering changes or any remediation related thereto, of plant systems, structures or components (some of which are based on new technology that has only within the last few years began initial operation in the global nuclear industry at this scale), any of which may require additional labor and/or materials; or other issues could arise and further impact the projected schedule and estimated cost. In addition, the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could further disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory, and support activities at Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4. The incremental cost associated with COVID-19 mitigation actions and impacts on construction productivity is currently estimated to be between $150 million and $250 million (of which our 30% interest is $45 million to $75 million) and is included in the project budget and assumes (i) absenteeism rates normalize and (ii) the intended productivity efficiencies and production targets are realized in the coming months. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction schedule and budget for Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 cannot be determined at this time. There have been technical and procedural challenges to the construction and licensing of Vogtle Units No. 3 and No. 4 at the federal and state level and additional challenges may arise. Processes are in place that are designed to assure compliance with the requirements specified in the Westinghouse Design Control Document and the combined construction and operating licenses, including inspections by Southern Nuclear and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that occur throughout construction. As a result of such compliance processes, certain license amendment requests have been filed and approved or are pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Various design and other licensing-based compliance matters, including the timely submittal by Southern Nuclear of inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance documentation for each unit and the related reviews and approvals by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission necessary to support Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorization to load fuel, may arise, which may result in additional license amendments or require other resolution. On May 11, 2020, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that challenges a license amendment request. On June 15, 2020, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an appealable order rejecting Nuclear Watch South's April 20, 2020 petition requesting a hearing and challenging the closure of certain inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance criteria. If any license amendment requests or other licensing-based compliance issues are not resolved in a timely manner, there may be further delays in the project schedule that could result in increased costs to the Co-owners. |