The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has deemed that the ownership of a proposed third reactor for Maryland's Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant is illegal under U.S. law, but the agency indicated it will move forward with the reactor's licensing as French-owned UniStar seeks a U.S. partner.
UniStar began the project as a joint venture between French firm EDF and U.S.-based Constellation Energy Group. The latter backed out, though, last year over uncertainty regarding a federal loan guarantee for the project. UniStar indicated it would continue to look for a U.S.-based partner, as federal law prohibits non-U.S. companies from owning nuclear power plants.
In a letter Friday, the NRC notified the company that it will continue the licensing process for the project, but a final license would not be granted under the reactor's current ownership. A spokeswoman for UniStar told the Baltimore Sun that the project would move forward as anticipated and that it continues to seek a U.S. partner.
A company proposal forwarded to the NRC in December would place two U.S. citizens on its board and appoint only U.S. citizens as chairman and CEO, but the NRC letter indicates that plan still does not bring the project's ownership within U.S. law.
Proposed in 2007, the $9.6 billion Calvert Cliffs unit 3 project calls for a new Areva-designed Evolutionary Power Reactor 40 miles south of Annapolis, Md.