WAYNESBORO, Ga. (AP) - Contractors working on a first-of-its-kind nuclear plant are suing Georgia Power and the group of cooperative and municipal utilities building the new reactors near Waynesboro.

The contractors maintain that the utilities owe money for additional expenses that came from backfilling two excavation sites.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (http://bit.ly/N1KRcn) that the lawsuit was filed by the contractors last week in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit indicates that Westinghouse and a Shaw Group subsidiary billed the utilities for $58 million in extra charges. The contractors maintain that the utilities have paid $29.3 million of that, and the lawsuit seeks the rest of the unpaid amount.

Georgia Power spokesman Mark Williams considers the conflict to be a normal part of Vogtle's expansion, one of the largest economic development projects in Georgia history.