What Went Wrong at Vogtle? feat. Mark Nelson

Vogtle was supposed to be the beginning of a nuclear renaissance.
The two AP1000's at this site were the first new reactors to be
built in the USA in the 21st century. There was optimism that a
novel modular design that economized space and materials would be
on budget and on time. Vogtle, however, has become the poster
child of the United States' inability to build affordable nuclear
reactors. 


The timeline has almost doubled and the cost overrun tripled. The
project bankrupted the reactor vendor Westinghouse and almost
bankrupted its parent company Toshiba. Decouple veteran Mark
Nelson returns to discuss what we can learn from the challenges
of this megaproject.


Mark argues that Westinghouse, which had become divorced by a
generation from nuclear construction, created a design that
looked good on paper but presented major construction challenges.
Rather than learning from contemporary successful reactor
builders like the South Koreans,  the company believed it
knew best. 


The design features of the AP1000 which boasted 1/5th the amount
of concrete and steel of a typical reactor and modular
construction were supposed to enable parallel construction and
speed up the build. In reality, they resulted in unprecedented
challenges such as working in confined spaces and defective
modules which led to interruptions in the critical paths of the
construction schedule. 


Furthermore, the engineering, procurement and construction firms
engaged to build Vogtle had almost no workers or management with
lived experience of building reactors let alone a first-of-a-kind
novel design like the AP1000. Communication between the Chinese
who were years ahead with their four AP1000 builds broke down and
lessons were not shared with their American counterparts. 


The history of successful nuclear buildouts in countries like
France, Japan and South Korea shows that lived construction
experience and consistent designs built over and over are what
bring down nuclear costs and timelines. In essence the tacit
knowledge of a skilled management and workforce trumps a fancy
new design especially for an atrophied nuclear sector. 


Vogtle is a cautionary tale for the western nuclear industry
which has recently pinned it hopes almost exclusively on the role
of advanced nuclear and novel SMR designs. Mark argues what is
needed is humility, consulting with and employing the lessons of
successful contemporary reactor builders, building simple
reactors we are familiar with and focusing on optimizing
construction ease over novel designs at least for now.