Federal regulators will soon consider whether to allow Southern Co. to construct what could become the nation's first new nuclear plant in a generation.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set a Sept. 27 hearing at its Maryland headquarters on whether the Atlanta-based Southern Co. and its partners can build and operate two more nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta.
A final agenda for the meeting has not yet been posted. It's possible it may take the NRC until early next year to make a final decision.
The agency's commissioners cannot issue the license for the new plant until they formally approve the Westinghouse Electric Co. AP1000 reactor that would power it. NRC staffers recently said that process could run into early next year.
