FAQ

UniStar Nuclear Energy is leading America’s nuclear renaissance. Our goal is to enhance U.S. energy security through the expansion of clean, safe and reliable nuclear energy by constructing a standardized fleet of at least four advanced nuclear power plants at selected sites throughout the United States. UniStar and its partners currently are pursuing potential new nuclear plants in Maryland, New York, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
UniStar is a joint venture between Constellation Energy, a premiere U.S. nuclear fleet operator, and EDF Group, the global leader in nuclear power generation.

UniStar’s prime technology is AREVA’s Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR), which will be known in the United States as the U.S. EPR. UniStar selected the U.S. EPR because we believe it offers the highest levels of reactor safety, security, and reliability. And by licensing, constructing and operating the most efficient fleet of advanced nuclear power plants, UniStar is working to help reduce the negative impacts of global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

UniStar’s customers—primarily utilities and energy companies—want the greatest possible certainty when it comes to nuclear power generation. They want to know that, if they decide to build a U.S. EPR, the new plant will be developed, licensed, constructed and operated in the way the company intends. UniStar’s experienced team, strong partnerships and innovative business model work to drive down business risks and increase certainty in licensing, cost and schedule for new nuclear development.

By the time the first U.S. EPR begins operation, this advanced nuclear plant design already will be operating in Finland, France, and China, thus avoiding the additional business risks associated with any first-of-its-kind construction project.

The UniStar Nuclear Energy business model offers customers the advantage of becoming part of a standardized fleet of new nuclear plants as well as the flexibility to select from a range of services, including site qualification and characterization work, licensing, construction, and operation of a new plant.

In addition, UniStar will create individual project companies for each proposed plant. Our business model provides us and our partners with the benefit of flexible-ownership options, allowing UniStar and our partners to share equity interest in new nuclear projects. Many utilities don’t want to undertake one of these projects alone—and most, if not all, of our project companies will have multiple owners. If a utility wants sole ownership of a U.S. EPR, that’s okay, too. The structure UniStar has in place allows for that. Every plant owner will reap the fleet benefits of being part of the standardized U.S. EPR owners’ group.

What’s standardization? Unlike the nation’s 104 existing nuclear plants, which were built individually without consideration of a standardized technology or design, the U.S. EPR will be virtually identical at each site where it is constructed. This will help ensure fewer delays in securing regulatory approvals and constructing the plant and will lower the cost of parts and of operating and maintaining the facility. Today’s advanced nuclear power plants like the U.S. EPR will be built using modular components prepared off-site and then assembled at the site.

Unlike the nation’s 104 existing nuclear plants, which were built individually without consideration of a standardized technology or design, the U.S. EPR will be virtually identical at each site where it is constructed. This will help ensure fewer delays in securing regulatory approvals and constructing the plant and will lower the cost of parts and of operating and maintaining the facility. Today’s advanced nuclear power plants, like the U.S. EPR, will be built using modular components prepared off-site and then assembled at the site.

The U.S. EPR is a next-generation, 1600 MWe pressurized water reactor technology originally developed in America. UniStar believes it is the safest and most secure nuclear plant technology available. It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary. The U.S. EPR design evolved globally from mature and proven technologies of the most modern European nuclear plants. It takes performance to a higher level through streamlined construction, higher efficiency, and flexible operation and is at the forefront of nuclear power plants in terms of economic competitiveness and safety standards. The proposed plant is the only advanced design plant that features “double-walled” containment built to withstand the impact of a large commercial aircraft.

The EPR is already under construction in Olkiluoto, Finland, Flamanville, France, and Taishan, China.

UniStar worked closely with AREVA, the world’s leading nuclear supplier, on its development of the Design Certification Application (DCA) for the U.S. EPR. In February, 2008, the U.S. Regulatory Commission (NRC) accepted AREVA’s DCA for detailed, technical review.

UniStar and its partners plan to build at least four U.S. EPRs at selected sites throughout the U.S. Currently, we are pursuing the option of new nuclear in Maryland, New York, Missouri and Pennsylvania.

It is important to note that neither UniStar nor any of its utility partners has made a decision to build a new nuclear power plant. There are many regulatory approvals that must be obtained and many decisions that must be made before a company is willing or able to commit the billions of dollars needed to develop a new plant.

On March 17, 2008, UniStar submitted to the NRC the remaining portions of its COL application (the environmental Report and other sections were submitted in July 2007) for Calvert Cliffs-3, its "reference plant" that may be built adjacent to Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby Maryland. The NRC’s review of the COL application is expected to take 36-42 months. If UniStar makes a decision to build this plant, it would be the first in our planned fleet of at least four U.S. EPRs.

Currently, UniStar and its partners have submitted COLAs to the NRC for all four of the proposed U.S. EPR sites. All four applications have been docketed and are now under review by the NRC. Additionally, all four entities have submitted Part I of their applications for Federal Loan Guarantees to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). UniStar's Calvert Cliffs 3 and PPL have submitted part II of their applications.

Now that UniStar and its partners have submitted COL applications for the first four units, we will continue to work on licensing efforts for a second wave of four-to-eight units. These projects would benefit from standardization and lessons learned from the development and deployment our first four proposed plants.

Planning to build a fleet of U.S. EPRs is a more cost effective way to build new nuclear power plants. The benefits include:

Benefits of UniStar’s standardized fleet approach also extend to the NRC’s Combined License Application (COLA) process. Because each subsequent COLA (or S-COLA) is based on our reference COLA (or R-COLA) NRC review of these S-COLAs is likely to be more straightforward and timely than it would be if each application were substantially unique.

Standardized plants build on the expertise gained from others under development, and the fleet approach brings an unprecedented level of certainty for energy companies and interested equity partners. Increased certainty also results from having a team that has experience in designing and constructing the plants. EPR construction projects in Finland and France provide a detailed learning environment for successful plant design and construction in the U.S.

As a joint venture of Constellation Energy and EDF Group, UniStar has a unique business advantage. Specifically, UniStar is able to draw upon the talent and expertise of its parent companies as we license, develop and deploy our planned fleet of U.S. EPRs. UniStar also continues to benefit from strong relationships with our vendor-partners such as AREVA, Bechtel and Alstom—all of which have substantial staffs and strong programs to recruit and retain top-notch employees. For example, among these three vendor-partners, there are more than 400 engineers currently working on UniStar projects.

UniStar does not yet have any operating nuclear power plants. However, as a joint venture of Constellation Energy and EDF Group, UniStar is founded on the same principles that have made Constellation Energy a leader in U.S. environmental stewardship.

Constellation Energy’s commitment to meeting energy demand while preserving and protecting natural resources has been recognized by dozens of awards every year. We are particularly proud of the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) recertification of Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. This designation recognizes the active involvement of employee volunteers to sustain wildlife habitat- management projects. The Calvert Cliffs plant, which has a 30-year record of environmental responsibility, has been WHC certified since 1993.

There are several other new-reactor technologies being considered by other companies, but UniStar and its customers and potential equity partners believe that the U.S. EPR is the best, safest and most efficient new-reactor design available today. The U.S. EPR is also the only Generation III+ design that is already under construction – and the only dual-containment reactor building, which is capable of withstanding a collision by a large commercial aircraft. Generation III+ plants are more economical, efficient, and safer than those built than the current Generation II plants operating in the U.S. The EPR is the only Generation III+ design that has performed a detailed aircraft impact assessment.

Used fuel stored at nuclear plants is very safe. A white paper evaluating two studies by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in 2003 and 2004 (Link) shows that, from a safety perspective, this is really the optimal way to store used fuel in the near term. And extensive tests (Video of F4 crash test into concrete wall) performed on shipping containers -- combined with decades of on-the-road experience -- show that used fuel can be safely and securely transported when a permanent solution is decided.

DOE’s June 3, 2008, solicitation of applications for federal loan guarantees for advanced nuclear projects was a significant milestone in new nuclear development in the U.S. Congress and the Bush Administration worked collaboratively to enact legislation in 2005, and affirmed it again in 2007, to pave the way for a loan guarantee program that investors view as an absolute pre-requisite for advancing new nuclear development in the U.S.

Currently, UniStar and its partners have submitted submitted Part I of their applications for Federal Loan Guarantees for the first four proposed plants to the U.S. Department of Energy, and are developing Part II of their applications for submission in December 2008.

Issuance of federal loan guarantees for the first few new nuclear projects will be a vital part of our decision whether or not to pursue new nuclear development due to the high cost of borrowing money to finance the debt portion of the project. Not a subsidy, federal loan guarantees are designed to help companies building the first few new nuclear power plants in the U.S. to obtain financing at a lower interest rate.

In addition to participating in the NRC’s review of our COLA and applying for a federal loan guarantee for Calvert Cliffs-3, UniStar also has applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission’s process for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to construct the plant. The CPCN process encompasses an array of required state permits involving environmental and reliability impacts of the proposed plant on air, surface and groundwater, terrestrial and aquatic areas, wetlands, and cultural and historic resources.

As all three subsequent COLAs for prospective projects in New York, Missouri and Pennsylvania were submitted to the NRC, we and our partnes will respond diligently to Requests for Additional Information (RAIs) from the NRC for each of these projects. We continue to work with AREVA and Bechtel to develop the detailed design engineering for the U.S. EPR, and will be securing our engineering, procurement and construction contracts.

To ensure a minimal environmental impact, UniStar has taken several important and extraordinary steps. These include plans to:

No new transmission lines will be required to support Calvert Cliffs 3.

Construction of the proposed Calvert Cliffs-3 plant would create roughly 4,000 jobs for pipe fitters, welders, electricians and other skilled workers during peak construction. A new plant also would result in approximately 360 new, permanent jobs after the project would be completed.

Nuclear power is clean-air energy. It is the best source of base-load power generation that does not produce greenhouse gas emissions. As a source of base-load power, nuclear is available 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week.

This high efficient output from nuclear power plants drives economic performance. The average cost of U.S. nuclear electricity production in 2007 was 1.68 cents per kilowatt-hour — a record low. This is less expensive than coal and one-quarter of the cost of natural gas. Nuclear’s production costs are stable and are not subject to extreme market fluctuations as are natural gas and oil.

Each year, the average nuclear plant generates approximately $430 million in sales of goods and services in the local community and nearly $40 million in total labor income?

Every nuclear plant provides annual state and local tax revenue of almost $20 million to benefit schools, roads, and other state and local infrastructure. Each nuclear plant also pays roughly $75 million in federal taxes each year.

A new nuclear plant has not been ordered in the U.S. since 1979. Yet, U.S. nuclear operators have been successful in improving safety and efficiency at the nation’s existing nuclear facilities. Existing nuclear plants in the U.S. have produced power at about 90 percent of their licensed capacity since 2001, compared with about 70 percent for coal. Capacity factor is the percentage of electricity actually produced, compared with the total potential electricity that the plant is capable of producing. By contrast, wind power operates at about 30 percent and can’t improve, because the capacity is limited to the amount of wind that blows.

Several U.S. regions are projecting needs for new base-load electric capacity during the next decade. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) forecasts that 81,000 megawatts of new nuclear construction will need to be in place by 2035 for the U.S. to maintain nuclear’s existing 20 percent share of U.S. energy production.