Calvert Cliffs

Constellation Energy Group and its French nuclear partner, EDF Group, reached an agreement late Tuesday to give EDF full ownership of the proposed third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, reviving hopes for the project's future. Under the agreement, EDF will acquire Constellation's 50 percent stake in the Unistar nuclear-development company for $140 million. EDF will be the sole owner of Unistar and its plans to develop the third unit at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland. And the deal will end Constellation's business in building new nuclear plants.

They can cancel the beret and tricolor-flag orders at the Perryman Power Plant. The French won't buy the Harford County facility after all. On Tuesday, owner Constellation Energy Group agreed to cancel its option to sell about a dozen electricity plants to EDF Group, the big energy company controlled by the French government. At the same time, Constellation let EDF assume development of a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland. But I wouldn't start polishing the escargot forks at Calvert Cliffs, either.

French EDF Group's designee on Constellation Energy Group's board of directors resigned Monday in the latest move between the two companies, whose relationship has been strained over a proposed third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs. The resignation of Daniel Camus, EDF's chief financial officer who spearheaded the company's involvement with Constellation, is effective Thursday, according to documents filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. No reason was given for his departure.

When Constellation Energy Group and EDF Group teamed up three years ago, the economy was riding high, and so were they. Rising energy prices and a growing economy prompted them to propose the once unthinkable: developing, building and operating the first new U.S. nuclear energy plant in three decades. EDF, owned by the French government and operator of one of the largest fleets of nuclear plants in the world, would gain prestige and profit by bringing its expertise to America through the companies' UniStar joint venture.

Constellation Energy Group offered Friday to sell its half-stake in the proposed third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs to its French partner for $1, a move that would allow EDF Group to pursue the Maryland project alone but would end the Baltimore company's business in U.S. nuclear development. Constellation's proposal is the latest exchange between the two partners, whose strained relationship became even more so Oct. 8 when Constellation pulled out of negotiations with Obama administration officials over a federal loan guarantee deemed crucial to the $9.6 billion project.

The news that EDF Group still wants to pursue building a new reactor after Constellation Energy pulled out of their partnership is unwelcome news for taxpayers. Just days after Constellation canceled the project because they couldn't stomach the financial risk, EDF continues to seek to shift this risk onto U.S. taxpayers, even though better energy solutions abound. Now is the time for Maryland's leaders to launch a renewed push for a smarter and cleaner energy future. Constellation walked away from its plans to build a new reactor at Calvert Cliffs because it was unwilling to shoulder the huge financial risk involved in building an expensive new reactor.

Struggling to save plans for a third nuclear reactor at the Calvert Cliffs electricity plant, the French EDF Group offered Wednesday to buy out Constellation Energy's interest in their nuclear-development venture and seek a new U.S. partner for the Maryland project. "We feel an obligation to explore every reasonable avenue to keep the prospects for this project alive," Thomas Piquemal, EDF's executive vice president for finance, wrote in a letter to Baltimore-based Constellation.

From Jay Hancock's blog: Take this with a truckload of salt. One anonymous source tells Bloomberg that EDF Group would support the sale of one of Maryland's biggest corporate citizens, Constellation Energy, parent of Baltimore Gas & Electric. The French EDF, which holds a large stake in Constellation, is in the process of divorcing Constellation over their troubled joint venture to build a third nuclear reactor at the Calvert Cliffs electricity plant. EDF has several reasons to rattle this saber.

From Jay Hancock's blog: Not much time. On the way to the PSC's hearings on the electricity grid's notorious reliability pricing model, which basically pays generation plants for merely existing and hasn't done its promised job of luring new generation projects to Maryland. The EDF Group offer to take over development of Calvert Cliffs 3 is a long long shot. A million things have to go right. If EDF were to take over UniStar, it and Constellation Energy Group would have to come to terms.

In Jay Hancock's article, "Lack of climate change bill killed new nuclear reactor" (October 10), he concludes that now, more than ever, large, expensive interstate transmission lines, particularly PATH and TrAIL, are needed for electricity. This is a faulty conclusion. The same reasoning that made Calvert Cliffs 3 illogical works against PATH and TrAIL — there are more viable alternatives economically and environmentally. First and foremost is energy efficiency and demand response.