Westinghouse has commissioned an AP1000 nuclear reactor at Southern Nuclear’s Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Georgia.
According to the press release, this is the first nuclear reactor in the United States to be launched in the last 30 years. Currently, power unit No. 3 has been put into commercial operation, and another facility is scheduled to be launched by the end of the year.
The AP1000 units at Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant are Generation III+ water-water reactors with fully passive safety systems and modular design. They also occupy the smallest relative area per MW of energy on the market, according to Westinghouse.
According to the company, nine AP1000 reactors will be built in Ukraine. The technology is currently being considered for implementation at numerous facilities in Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, India, China, and the United States.