An audit submitted to the GeorgiaPublic Service Commission claims that between 944 mln dlrs and
1.8 billion dlrs of the costs of the Plant Vogtle nuclear power
station should be disallowed, a Southern Co spokeswoman said.
    Southern's Georgia Power Co subsidiary has a 45.7 pct
interest in the plant and estimated earlier this year it would
cost a total of 8.87 billion dlrs. Last year, the plant's
owners pledged to Georgia regulators they would limit the cost
passed on to rate payers to 8.4 billion dlrs.
    The Southern spokeswoman said the company feels the report
by O'Brien-Kreitzberg is "flawed and biased." She said the
report was released yesterday by the state attorney general.
    Responding to the report today, Georgia Power Chairman
Robert W. Scherer told a news conference the conclusions drawn
by the firm "are not only wrong -- they also reflect the same
bias against nuclear power that these auditors have
demonstrated in similar cases accross the country."
    Saying he was not suggesting Georgia power was without
fault, Scherer said "the audit identified several things I wish
we had done differently."
    Scherer pointed out a report O'Brien-Kreitzberg submitted
to Georgia regulators in March 1986 projected Georgia Power
would not finish Plant Vogtle unit one before the end of 1987.
    Noting "unit one is finished, and we expect it to be in
commercial operationg by June," he said the firm's latest
report ignored the earlier projection, gave the utility no
credit for the completion and "actually penalized us by
suggesting that costs to maintain t he schedule be disallowed."
    Scherer said the latest audit alleges Georgia Power could
have saved 95 mln dlrs if it had stopped using four shifts,
seven days a week to speed construction three years sooner.
    He said this would have delayed completion of the plant for
another year "and it would have cost several hunderd million
dlrs more."
    Noting the audit said costs were increased 600 mln dlrs by
schedule delays totaling 20.5 months, he said "First, we have
the best concrete placement record in the industry, Second new
government regulations after the Three Mile Island incident
significantly increased construction time.
   
 Reuter
