A nuclear power plant in Georgia that predates Jimmy Carter's presidency has received a new lease on life, with federal regulators approving an additional 20 years of operation, Georgia Power announced Monday.
The licenses for the two reactors at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley were set to expire in the 2030s. Under renewed licenses issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the reactors will be authorized to operate until 2054 and 2058, when the units will be 79 years old.
Georgia Power Chairman, President, and CEO Kim Greene said the company's nuclear fleet provides reliable energy at a stable cost.
"This license extension is great news as our state continues to grow and electricity demand continues to increase," Greene said in a statement.
Plant Hatch's first reactor unit began operating in 1975, two years before Carter took office as president. Unit 2 entered service in 1979.
Together, the reactors generate about 1.8 gigawatts of electricity, accounting for roughly 40% of Georgia Power's nuclear energy production.
Combined, Plant Hatch and Plant Alvin W. Vogtle near Waynesboro produced nearly 30% of the company's electricity last year.
The larger Vogtle facility has four reactor units — two that began operating in the late 1980s and two that entered service in 2023 and 2024. The plant produces about 4.7 gigawatts of electricity.
Both plants are jointly owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and Dalton Utilities. They are operated by a Birmingham-based subsidiary of Southern Co., Georgia Power's parent company.
Over the past two decades, the ownership partnership has replaced the Unit 2 cooling tower at Plant Hatch, as well as transformers, water pumps, and feedwater heaters.
The federal license renewal was based in part on safety and environmental reviews, as well as aging-management programs designed to ensure the reactors can continue operating safely for decades to come.