ATLANTA — A nuclear power plant in Georgia that predates the presidency of Jimmy Carter got a new lease on life to operate for an additional two decades, Georgia Power announced Monday.
The licenses for the reactors at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley were set to expire in the 2030s. The two reactor units will be 79 years old when the renewed licenses issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expire in 2054 and 2058.
Georgia Power Chairman, President and CEO Kim Greene said in a statement accompanying the announcement that the company’s nuclear portfolio provides reliable energy at a stable cost.
“This license extension is great news as our state continues to grow and demand for electricity continues to increase,” she said.
Plant Hatch’s first reactor unit came online in 1975, two years before Carter took office as president. Unit 2 entered service in 1979.
Together they produce about 1.8 gigawatts of power, or about 40% of Georgia Power’s nuclear energy.
Altogether, Plant Hatch and Plant Alvin W. Vogtle near Waynesboro produced nearly 30% of the company’s energy last year.
The larger Vogtle has four reactor units, two that date to the late 1980s and two that began generating power in 2023 and 2024. It produces a total of about 4.7 gigawatts.
Both plants are co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities. The plants are operated by a Birmingham-based subsidiary of Georgia Power’s owner, the Southern Company.
Over the past two decades, the partnership replaced the Unit 2 cooling tower at Plant Hatch and replaced transformers, water pumps and feedwater heaters.
The federal renewal was based in part on safety and environmental reviews and on aging management programs.