ATLANTA (AP) - America's first new nuclear plants in more than a decade are costing billions more to build and sometimes taking longer to deliver than planned.
Those problems could chill the industry's hopes for a jumpstart to a new nuclear age.
Licensing delays, soaring construction expenses and glitches have driven up costs of plants in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. An Associated Press analysis shows the increases range from hundreds of millions of dollars to as much as $2 billion.
An independent monitor says Plant Vogtle (VOH'-guhl) in Georgia can't be built on budget. Cost increases of more than $600 million at Plant Summer in South Carolina have been offset by other savings.
The owner of the Watts Bar plant in Tennessee says it will cost up to $2 billion more to finish the mothballed plant.
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