Southern Company’s Georgia Power says Vogtle Unit 3 reaches initial criticality

Georgia Power announced that Vogtle Unit 3 has safely reached initial criticality. Initial criticality is a key step during the startup testing sequence and demonstrates that — for the first time — operators have safely started the nuclear reaction inside the reactor. This means atoms are being split and nuclear heat is being made, which will be used to produce steam. A reactor achieves criticality when the nuclear fission reaction becomes self-sustaining. Achieving initial criticality is necessary to continue the startup of the Unit in order to generate sufficient heat for the production of electricity.