Obama, Nuclear, and Southern share

Obama Goes Nuclear (SO)

On Tuesday, President Obama announced a conditional $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the first new nuclear power plant in 27 years. If finalized, this would cover 70% of Southern's (NYSE: SO) share of the total project, which aims to complete two units at Plant Vogtle in Burke, Georgia in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

This development has been years in the making. In 2006, Southern applied for an early site permit for the two new units, which was granted last year. In 2008, the firm filed for a construction and operating license, and soon thereafter, Toshiba and Shaw Group (NYSE: SHAW) got the order for two 1,100-megawatt Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. Shaw is both a minority owner of Westinghouse, and the EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) contractor for the project. Last year, and notably before the project had its early site permit in hand, Southern issued to Shaw a full notice to proceed on the project.

Southern's operating license is not expected to be granted before 2011. If it seems like the company has jumped the gun with any of these steps, that's because it has to if it wants to get this plant built in any reasonable timeframe. The paperwork just takes that long to process.