Agency tries to block reactor

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008

Takoma Park-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service is trying to intervene in UniStar’s application for a ‘‘certificate of public convenience and necessity” for the proposed third reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby.

The certificate, issued by the Maryland Public Service Commission, is required before construction of the reactor can go forward.

‘‘A CPCN is an application filed to request [PSC] approval to operate or construct new or modified generation capacity,” according to a definition supplied by LaWanda Edwards, manager of the office of external communication for the PSC, which regulates public utilities. ‘‘A company cannot begin construction or operation without this certificate. It is a comprehensive process whereby the [PSC] looks at all the impacts of the facility on the state and the public, including impacts on the environment, community, economics, electricity supply and so on. The process usually takes about a year to complete.”

UniStar is seeking to exclude the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, or NIRS, because NIRS raised concerns about broad nuclear policy issues, including nuclear waste disposal, that do not fall under the PSC’s jurisdiction, according to Baltimore-based attorney Charles O. Monk II, who represents UniStar.

‘‘NIRS is focusing on nuclear policy issues, and our point was that nuclear policy issues are under the purview of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under federal law,” Monk said. ‘‘We wouldn’t object to NIRS being an interested person, which is a status the PSC has used in other cases, as someone who gets access to the papers” in the proceedings but is not a party to them.

UniStar is not objecting to a similar petition for intervention filed by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group because its concerns are applicable to the PSC application, Monk said.

‘‘What I said was, we don’t object to MaryPIRG, because the basis for their intervention described their interests in environmental issues, protecting the environment, and the application that is going to be undertaken before the PSC does involve environmental issues,” Monk said.

Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, said his organization is concerned with the possible effects of a third reactor on local energy prices, something of interest to the PSC.

Construction of nuclear reactors is costly and risky, and potential problems with building a third reactor at Calvert Cliffs could be reflected in increased costs to Maryland consumers.

‘‘What it means [for NIRS to intervene] is that we want to raise some issues regarding UniStar’s application to the Public Service Commission, partly about the economics of this reactor and its potential effects on ratepayers in Maryland, and we want to take a look at whether this is the best way to meet whatever Maryland’s energy needs are,” Mariotte said.

Power generated at Calvert Cliffs is sold on the open market, and does not directly affect electricity prices or availability in Calvert County.

The EPR reactor model proposed by UniStar would be only the second constructed in the world, Mariotte said, and the first, in Finland, is plagued by cost overruns and construction delays, he said. EPR originally stood for European Pressurized Reactor, but is more commonly called an Evolutionary Power Reactor in the U.S.

Mariotte said he is confident that NIRS can persuade the PSC to withhold the certificate of public convenience and necessity based on the organization’s concerns about nuclear power cost.

‘‘We think that when the PSC looks at all the information, they will realize a huge new reactor at Calvert Cliffs is not the best for Calvert County,” Mariotte said. ‘‘... We wouldn’t bother going to the PSC if we didn’t think we had a compelling case.”

Because the hearing process is in its early stages, the specifics of NIRS’s case have not yet been worked out, he said.

UniStar has not committed to building another reactor at Calvert Cliffs, reiterated Maureen Brown, director of generation communication for Constellation Energy, owner of the plant. Constellation Energy, with French energy company EDF, comprises UniStar Nuclear.

E-mail Erica Mitrano at emitrano@somdnews.com.