(Breaking news) NRC ok's Constellation-EDF merger

PSC decision still up in the air

Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the transfer of five Constellation Energy nuclear reactor operating licenses to Constellation Energy Nuclear Group and EDF Development on Friday, leaving approval from the state Public Service Commission as the lone remaining hurdle to a merger that has been amped in political theater.

The NRC's decision would allow Constellation to transfer the operating licenses of the two Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant reactors along with the two at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Oswego, N.Y., and one at the R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario, N.Y., to the proposed CENG-EDF joint venture, according to an NRC release.

The proposed merger has now gotten the green light from all necessary federal agencies and the New York Public Service Commission, according to a Constellation release.

Approval has not come so easily in Maryland, where Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), skeptical of the effect the deal might have on ratepayers, has stood in opposition.

Conversely, the deal has been championed by local politicians eager for the tax revenue and jobs promised by the construction of a third Calvert Cliffs reactor. Constellation has said the merger is necessary to get the already-approved reactor built.

EDF Development is a U.S. subsidiary of …lectricité de France, a French utility. Under the deal, EDF Development would purchase 49.99 percent of CENG, with Constellation retaining the remaining 50.01 percent.

The NRC also allowed transfer of the Calvert Cliffs Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation and placed several conditions to ensure the licenses remain free of foreign control, including requirements that CENG's top officials and half its board members be U.S. citizens.

jnewman@somdnews.com