Primary contractor Richmond County Constructors LLC (RCC) employs 482 structural and 329 reinforcing ironworkers from Iron Workers Local 709 in Savannah, Georgia, and Iron Workers Local 846 in Aiken, South Carolina, on the $25 billion Plant Vogtle project in Waynesboro, Georgia. The project will employ more than 6,000 highly skilled union trade craft workers during the next four years and 850 ironworkers at its peak. Focusing on safety, quality construction and productivity, more than 5,000 skilled craft workers have put in more than 60 million work hours without a lost time incident.
The plant is being constructed under the terms and conditions of the Nuclear Power Construction Labor Agreement between North America's Building Trades Unions and RCC.
The ironworkers with RCC and subcontractors, including Research Cottrell Cooling Inc. and Hamon Custodis Inc. from Somerville, New Jersey; Boykin Erectors from Jesup, Georgia; Midwest Steel from Detroit; SteelFab Inc. of Alabama from Norcross, Georgia; Summit Erectors from Jacksonville, Florida; and Alberici from St. Louis have worked more than 8 million direct-hire work hours to date. They have placed approximately 31,800 tons of rebar and erected 25,201 tons of structural steel on the project since 2011.
Vogtle is the largest nuclear power plant in construction and the first in North America to be constructed with the Westinghouse AP1000 advanced pressurized water reactor technology in three decades.
Co-owners of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, which include Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company; Oglethorpe Power; MEAG Power; and Dalton Utilities, reached a construction milestone late last year when the first of four reactor coolant pumps was placed in the Unit 3 containment, where the nuclear components are housed. Shield-building panels were placed outside the Unit 3 containment for structural support.
The Iron Workers' recruiting initiative in Puerto Rico supplied RCC with 70 additional ironworkers to meet short- and long-term staffing needs.
With over 60 percent of the project completed, Unit 3 is scheduled to commence commercial operations in November 2021, and Unit 4 is scheduled to commence commercial operations in November 2022.
Attend the North American Iron Workers/IMPACT Conference
Customer feedback is vital for the ironworkers and contractors to maintain their competitive edge in the industry. What can be changed to impact their success? Iron Workers and IMPACT would love to hear from you. Attend the 2019 North American Iron Workers/IMPACT Conference at The Mirage in Las Vegas Feb. 24-27 to witness the impact of change firsthand. The conference provides ironworkers and their contractors with a platform to showcase their portfolios, expertise and skills. It serves as a forum for sharing innovation, industry intelligence and mutual success. Two panels of end users will discuss the ironworkers and their contractors and technologies during construction at the upcoming conference.
For more information and to register for the 2019 North American Iron Workers/ IMPACT Conference, visit www.bit.ly/2019IW_IMPACTConference.
For more information, visit www.ironworkers.org or call (202) 383-4800.
