ATLANTA – The second of two new [.fow1-1]nuclear reactors[.fow1-1] at Plant Vogtle has entered full  operation, Georgia Power officials said Monday.

Unit 4, which went online nine months after Unit 3 was completed at the plant south of Augusta, can produce enough electricity to power [around] 500,000 homes and businesses.

“The new Vogtle units are a key piece of our [plan] to meet the energy needs of our customers not only tomorrow, but 20 years from now,” said Kim Greene, Georgia Power’s chairman, president and CEO. “I’m so proud of the teams who have worked [hard] to [create] the first newly [built] nuclear units in the U.S. in more than 30 years.”

The building of new [.fow1-1]nuclear reactors[.fow1-1] at Plant Vogtle was a long time in coming. The project was supposed to be completed in 2016 and 2017 but ran into a series of delays that drove up the cost to more than double the $14 billion planned when the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the work in 2009.

The PSC voted late last year to let Georgia Power pass on to customers almost $7.6 billion of the project’s costs, which will increase the average monthly customer’s bill by $8.95.

Environmental and consumer groups complained as the costs grew that Georgia Power and its partners in the project – Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power, and Dalton Utilities – should have more strongly considered [.fow1-2]renewable[.fow1-2] energy as a cheaper alternative to nuclear power.

Georgia Power instead argued that nuclear energy is the only [.fow2-2]zero-emission energy[.fow2-2] available today, and is available around the clock. Last year, nuclear energy produced at plants Vogtle and Hatch provided more than 25% of Georgia Power’s electricity.

“We have added new nuclear [[.fow1-1]reactors[.fow1-1]] to... increase our [energy] system as we work to achieve our goal to be [.fow2-3]net zero (in greenhouse gas emissions)[.fow2-3] by 2050,” said Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Southern Co., Georgia Power’s parent company.

“[Finishing the] Vogtle... project is the end of... [an incredible] journey towards a cleaner energy future for Georgians,” Oglethorpe Power President & CEO Mike Smith added. “We celebrate not only the [finish] of this important [.fow2-1]emission[.fow2-1]-free [project] but also its historic [success].”

In addition to the 800 jobs created by the two new [.fow1-1]reactors[.fow1-1], Plant Vogtle employed more than 9,000 construction workers at the peak of the project.