Move will make Georgia plant primary reference for licensing and enable rapid rollout of reactors
US nuclear reactor manufacturer Westinghouse has said its Vogtle -4 reactor in the state of Georgia will become the benchmark for a more standardised fleet expansion of its AP1000 reactor technology under a design review application.
Westinghouse said the design review submitted to the US Regulatory Commission (NRC) would establish Vogtle-4, which began commercial operation in April 2024, as the “reference plant for US deployment”.
According to an NRC statement, Westinghouse had requested approval of the design revision by the end of 2026.
The plant would become the primary reference for the subsequent licensing of new units and would enable a “rapid fleet deployment of AP1000 plants”, according to Westinghouse.
The NRC first certified the AP1000 design in 2006. That certification is valid until 2046. Westinghouse’s application requests a 40-year renewal of the certification while incorporating design changes approved during the construction and licensing of Vogtle-3 and -4, many of which represented departures from the original certified design.
“Establishing Vogtle Unit 4 as the standard as-built reference plant for all new AP1000 projects will enable Westinghouse and its partners to rapidly deliver multiple industry-leading AP1000 units simultaneously with more predictability,” said Dan Sumner, interim chief executive officer at Westinghouse.
He added: “For our customers, the ability to deploy a standard plant based on an as-built and operating unit without the technology risk associated with a first of a kind, never built design is a game changer for unlocking fleet-scale deployment.”
Westinghouse said that in addition to the Vogtle units, four AP1000 reactors are in operation in China, at the Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear power stations, with 14 additional reactors under construction and five more under contract. The design has been localised in China as the CAP1000. Westinghouse said the technology set for deployment in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Construction of two AP1000 units at the Summer project in South Carolina were suspended in 2017 after cost overruns.
Vogtle is the largest nuclear station in the US and is operated by Southern Nuclear. Vogtle-3, also an AP1000, began commercial in July 2023, while the site has two older Westinghouse units in operation which started in 1987 and 1989.
Vogtle-3 and -4 were the first new nuclear units to be constructed in the US in more than 30 years.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the four units combined generate over 4,500 MW of electricity.
Streamlining NRC Applications
In a statement, the NRC said that if approved for review, the application could help to streamline licensing for future applicants, leading to a faster approval process and lowering regulatory uncertainty and costs.
The NRC said design changes for the AP1000 were made during the construction of Vogtle-3 and -4, which Westinghouse identified as requiring review and approval from the original design.
“Future applications referencing the updated AP1000 should benefit from efficiencies introduced through standardised, nth-of-a-kind licensing and the incorporation of lessons learned from Vogtle’s licensing, construction, and startup,” the NRC said.
The AP1000 is a Generation III+ pressurised water reactor with net electrical output of 1,117 MW.
Westinghouse announced plans in July 2025 to deploy 10 AP1000 units in the US, with construction intended to begin by 2030. The 11.5 GW fleet is expected to support the US government's aim to quadruple nuclear energy capacity from around 100 GW today to 400 GW by 2050.
