The idea was first conceived by Eugene A. Yates, Southern Company's first President, although not implemented until much later.

The division was originally headquartered in what is now the First Commercial Bank Building in the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook, Alabama until it moved to the Inverness suburb in the late 1980s, followed by a relocation to the Colonnade office towers in 2017.

In January 2016, the United States Department of Energy announced a $80m award fund to develop Generation IV reactor designs.

[1] One of two beneficiaries, Southern Company Services will use the funding to develop a Molten Chloride Fast Reactor, a type of MSR developed earlier by British scientists at Atomic Energy Research Establishment.

[2] It will partner with TerraPower, Electric Power Research Institute, Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory; presumably in conjunction with sister division Southern Nuclear.