The request was filed Monday with the Public Service Commission.

The charges would come when the plant begins producing power, which is about nine years away if it is built. The request asks that the utility be allowed to recoup its planning costs from customers even if it doesn't build the nuclear plant.

Steve Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the proposal would shift the risk of nuclear investment from stockholders to customers.

Smith said Georgia Power is asking regulators to ``develop amnesia'' about the state's nuclear history, including controversial cost overruns at Plant Vogtle in east Georgia, where any new plant would be built.

The company said planning the plant would keep nuclear energy as an option in Georgia, and possibly stabilize energy costs. Spokesman John Sell said not having nuclear as an option is a bigger risk to ratepayers than having the option.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)