Federal regulators are considering a plan to build the nation's first nuclear power plant in a generation.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to vote today on Atlanta-based Southern Co.'s request to build two new reactors at Plant Vogtle  in eastern Georgia. If approved, the $14 billion reactors could begin operating as soon as 2016 and 2017.

The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978, a year before a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania raised fears of a radiation release and brought new reactor orders nearly to a halt.

The NRC approved a new reactor design for the Vogtle plant in December. Utility companies in Florida and the Carolinas also plan new reactors that use the same design.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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