On July 11, 2022, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that Southern Nuclear Operating Co. has submitted a license modification application seeking to load test rods containing accident-tolerant fuel at Units 1 and 2 of the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia. If approved, it would be the first time a modern LIGHT-water reactor in the United States has used fuel with a concentration of more than 5 percent.
If the application is approved, Southern Nuclear Operating Company said it would load one fuel rod containing highly enriched uranium into each of the four fuel modules. The first fuel rods are scheduled to be manufactured in 2023 and loaded into the Vogtler 2 unit during a refueling overhaul in the fall of that year. As a result, Southern Nuclear Operations expects the NRC to approve the application by July 2023.