Southern hopes to build more U.S. nuclear power reactors

(Reuters) - Southern Co, one of the biggest U.S. power companies, said it hopes to announce plans by the end of the year to build more nuclear reactors, a spokesman said late Wednesday.


That makes Southern the first company to pursue new reactors since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans earlier this year to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Nuclear reactors produce almost no carbon emissions.

The company is already building two new 1,117-megawatt reactors at its Vogtle nuclear site in Georgia and Southern Chief Executive Tom Fanning said any new reactors would be of the same Westinghouse AP1000 design.

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