ConDig (01-Sept-17).  The construction of a troubled $19 billion nuclear power plant in Georgia has been taken over by Bechtel following the departure of Fluor Corp.

Bechtel will now oversee the completion of the two-reactor expansion of Plant Vogtle near Augusta.

The plant’s units 3 & 4 will be the first new units built in the US in the last three decades and are currently the only new units being constructed in the country, according to Bechtel.

The San Francisco-based engineering and construction group will assume responsibility for a broad range of activities including day-to-day construction through completion of the project under the management of Southern Nuclear, the Southern Company subsidiary which operates the existing two units at Plant Vogtle.

Utility Georgia Power estimates the cost to complete the project is about $9.45 billion, while the construction estimate has been extended by 29 months. Current commercial operation date for Unit 3 is set for November 2021 and November 2022 for Unit 4.

“This is a critically important project for the nation and we’re honored to be chosen,” said Barbara Rusinko, president of Bechtel’s government services and commercial nuclear power business. “We are committed to the long-term future of nuclear power as a safe and reliable, 24/7 provider of carbon-free electricity.”

Both Bechtel and Fluor bid to take over construction of Plant Vogtle after Westinghouse Electric, the designer and principal contractor for the two AP1000 reactors being built, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year in the wake of multibillion-dollar losses amid cost overruns at he project.

Fluor had been brought in to the two over-budget and late nuclear power projects in late 2016 by Westinghouse, the prime contractor. But attempts to accelerate the project failed schedules reportedly fell further behind.