Perry extends another $3.7 billion loan guarantee for Georgia nuclear plant

The Department of Energy has extended another $3.7 billion in loan guarantees to complete the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Friday.

Six years after construction began on two new reactors at the nuclear facility, cost estimates have ballooned to more than $25 billion, with the federal government now committed to more than $12 billion in loan guarantees.

"The Vogtle project is critically important to supporting the Administration's direction to revitalize and expand the U.S. nuclear industry," Perry said during a visit to the site. "A strong nuclear industry supports a reliable and resilient grid, and strengthens our energy and national security."

Amid escalating costs and concerns about radioactive contamination and waste, the U.S. nuclear power sector has lagged in recent decades, with Vogtle representing the first new reactors to be licensed and built in three decades, according to the Energy Department.

The Trump administration has made expanding the U.S. nuclear sector a priority, not only to build plants domestically but to sell U.S. technology abroad.

"As I've witnessed firsthand today, Vogtle is also an energy infrastructure project with a massive scope employing thousands of workers," Perry said. "This project is rebuilding a highly skilled U.S. nuclear workforce and supply chain for the future."