The placement of concrete to fill the walls of the CA20 module at the Vogtle 3 nuclear construction project in Georgia has been completed, a key milestone for the vertical construction of the shield building.

Over 1800 cubic yards (1376 cubic metres) of concrete were poured in a continuous 45-hour operation to fill the walls of the CA20 module. The module, weighing nearly 1000 tonnes and standing over 21 metres tall, will house plant systems including fuel handling and used fuel storage areas. It was lifted into place in March 2014.

Unit 3 is one of two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors under construction at Vogtle, joining two existing pressurized water reactors. The unit is expected to enter operation by the middle of 2019, with Vogtle 4 following by mid-2020. Two AP1000s are also under construction at VC Summer in South Carolina. The first two of four units under construction in China — Sanmen 1 and Haiyang 1 — are expected to begin operations before the end of 2016, with Sanmen 2 and Haiyang 2 scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2017.