The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it has renewed the license for the Hatch Nuclear Plant in Baxley, Ga.,in under 12 months..
The Edwin Hatch nuclear plant, owned by Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power, received its second license renewal.
According to NRC’s June 12 press release, Hatch Unit 1 is now licensed to run through 2054, while Unit 2 may operate through June 2058. The agency granted the Hatch plant its subsequent license renewal, extending the license to operate from 60 to 80 years.
A subsequent license renewal comes after the first license renewal that extends the potential operating life from 40 to 60 years.
NRC received the subsequent license renewal application from Georgia Power on May 15, 2025, according to the agency’s website. The agency issued the final environmental assessment for the license renewal in March and the final safety evaluation report in May, prior to the decision this month.
Hatch has two boiling water reactors that produce 1,848 megawatts. Unit 1 began commercial operation in 1975, while Unit 2 came online in 1979. The plant was named after Georgia Power’s former president, Edwin Hatch, who served in that role from 1963 to 1975.
“The NRC continues to demonstrate we can reach timely decisions while maintaining our strict safety oversight,” Anna Bradford, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, said. “The staff’s ability to focus on key factors necessary for long-term plant performance and to implement continuous learning enabled us to efficiently secure another 1.8 gigawatts of power on the grid for 20 more years.”
The 12-month license renewal reviews were established by Executive Order 14300, which cut the review period for license renewals down from 18 to 12 months. In April, Duke Energy’s Robinson Nuclear Plant in South Carolina became the first nuclear plant to have its license renewed under the new 12-month review process.