Birmingham, Al. – Southern Nuclear Operating Company today filed an application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for an Early Site Permit (ESP) on behalf of the owners of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Waynesboro, Ga. Plant Vogtle is owned by Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the City of Dalton.

The ESP is another step in the NRC’s new, streamlined licensing process designed to reduce regulatory uncertainty by completing the process in stages. The permit does not commit the owners to build new units, but is part of the licensing process should they decide that nuclear power is the best option for providing additional generation.

The ESP will allow the NRC to review and pre-approve the plant site for future construction of new nuclear units and allow Southern Nuclear to conduct design, construction and other site-specific evaluations before the owners make the decision to build. Georgia Power also would need approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission before making a final decision to build the new units.

“We expect demand for electricity in the Southeast – specifically in Georgia – to increase significantly by 2015 and beyond,” said Southern Nuclear President and CEO Barnie Beasley. “Nuclear power is a safe, reliable, cost-effective power source that has a low impact on the environment. It is a prudent business decision to preserve it as an option to meet that need.”

Southern Nuclear also will prepare and file in the 2008 timeframe a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) for potential new units at Plant Vogtle – the next step in the federal regulatory process. The COL provides the company with one license to construct and operate a new plant based on an NRC pre-approved design at a specific site should the owners decide to build.

Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company, operates Plant Vogtle’s two existing nuclear power units for the plant owners. Southern Nuclear also operates Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant in Baxley, Ga., and Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant in Dothan, Al.

Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity.  The company is an investor-owned, tax-paying utility, serving customers in 57,000 of the state’s 59,000 square miles. Georgia Power’s rates are well below the national average and its 2.25 million customers are in all but four of Georgia’s 159 counties.

Oglethorpe Power Corporation is a $4.8 billion power supply cooperative serving 38 Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs) in Georgia.  These EMCs provide retail electric service to more than 3.7 million Georgians throughout the state.

Oglethorpe Power is the nation’s largest electric cooperative in terms of assets, annual kilowatt-hour sales and ultimate consumers served.

MEAG Power is a public corporation providing power to 49 Georgia communities that in turn bring energy to approximately 600,000 citizens. As the third largest power supplier in the state, energy sales exceeded

$703 million in 2005. MEAG Power has assets of over $4.8 billion, co-owns four generating plants with a generating capacity of 1,566 megawatts, and co-ownsGeorgia's Integrated Transmission System (ITS).

Dalton Utilities has operated as a public utility since 1889. Dalton Utilities provides potable water, electrical, natural gas and wastewater treatment services to the City of Dalton and portions of Whitfield, Murray, Gordon, Catoosa and Floyd counties. Dalton Utilities serves approximately 65,000 customers.

With 4.3 million customers and more than 40,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast, one of America’s fastest-growing regions. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications.