Exelon's nuclear fleet expands
02 April 2014
CORRECTED - An earlier version of this story said that Exelon was the world's second-largest nuclear generator. Rosenergoatom, whose capacity was incorrectly given, is in fact the second largest, behind EDF.
The operating licences of five US nuclear power reactors have been transferred from Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) to Exelon, making it the third-largest nuclear operator in the world.
.jpg "R E Ginna 460 (Exelon)") |
| The R E Ginna plant is now part of Exelon's fleet (Image: Exelon) |
When Exelon merged with CENG's parent company Constellation Energy in February 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the indirect transfer of the units' operating licences, as well as those for associated independent used fuel storage facilities.
On 25 March, the NRC made the change official by approving the direct transfer of the licences. The plants concerned are the single-unit R E Ginna plant, Nine Mile Point units 1 and 2, and Calvert Cliffs units 1 and 2. Long Island Power Authority owns 18% of Nine Mile Point 2 and is not affected.
Exelon has now announced that it has integrated the operations of the facilities, with a combined capacity of more than 4200 MWe, into its existing nuclear fleet. The transfer expands Exelon's fleet of operating reactors to 23 at 14 sites with a total generating capacity of over 22,000 MWe. Exelon now ranks as the world's third-largest nuclear operator, behind both Rosenergoatom with the 25,200 MWe fleet it operates in Russia and French state giant EDF, which has 63,130 MWe.
CENG is owned 50.1% by Exelon and 49.9% by EDF. Last July, the companies made an agreement to see Exelon lend $400 million to CENG to support a special dividend to EDF. The French state company retains an option to sell its stake in CENG to Exelon at a "fair market value" between January 2016 and June 2022.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News