Energy Secretary Steven Chu is expected to tout the Obama administration's support for nuclear power today while visiting a plant in Georgia that will see the first construction of new reactors in more than three decades.

Chu will deliver remarks at Southern Co.'s Vogtle plant near Waynesboro, Ga., plugging steps the administration has taken to restart America's nuclear energy industry and include the power source in its "all of the above" energy strategy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this month approved a license for a coalition of utilities led by Southern Co. to build two $14 billion reactors at the Vogtle plant about 170 miles east of Atlanta (Greenwire, Feb. 24). The company is ramping up construction and expects Unit 3 to be operational by 2016 and Unit 4 by 2017.

Chu will tour the plant with Thomas Fanning, Southern Co.'s chairman and president, and Paul Bowers, CEO of Georgia Power.

Although the administration has maintained it supports nuclear power, the industry is questioning why President Obama in his fiscal 2013 budget request didn't seek more federal loan authority to boost construction of the U.S. nuclear fleet (E&ENews PM, Feb. 13).

Southern Co. is finalizing terms with the DOE to receive a conditional $8.3 billion loan guarantee that has been pending since February 2010.

Chu is also scheduled to tour the Nuclear Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The facility was built in 2010 to improve nuclear reactor design and engineering with the use of the world's most powerful computers, DOE said.