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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.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission upheld a decision Monday preventing a French company from building a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in southern Maryland, but it offered glimmers of hope for the project's proponents. The commissioners directed their staff "to review issues relating to foreign ownership" — the sticking point for the Calvert Cliffs proposal — and recommend whether changes to agency rules or practice are appropriate. The five-person commission would not overturn a decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that UniStar Nuclear Energy is ineligible for a new-reactor license because it is wholly owned by French energy group EDF. Federal law bans foreign ownership or control of nuclear plants.

Two years ago, Constellation Energy Group and its French nuclear partner EDF were BFFs. Today, with EDF seeking to torpedo the Baltimore company's plan to sell itself to Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the relationship between the former "best friends forever" has clearly deteriorated. The French utility — Constellation's second-largest shareholder — is pushing Maryland energy regulators to reject the proposed $7.9 billion merger. A consultant hired by EDF is scheduled to testify Wednesday as the second week of hearings continues before the Maryland Public Service Commission.

Once promoted as the vanguard of a "nuclear renaissance," a proposed new reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland now faces a major new roadblock, with federal regulators threatening to shelve the troubled $9.6 billion project unless the French-controlled developer comes up with a U.S. partner in the next two months. The ruling Thursday by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board was not unexpected, as the board's parent Nuclear Regulatory Commission had warned Unistar Nuclear Energy more than a year ago that it could not get a license for the Maryland reactor without a U.S. partner.

Constellation Energy Group's largest shareholder is voting against CEO Mayo A. Shattuck's compensation. The move by French utility EDF is largely symbolic because Constellation's board will not be bound by the outcome of the "say on pay" proposal, but it is the latest spotlight on Shattuck's pay. Two influential shareholder groups — Glass, Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services — recently advised Constellation shareholders to...

Exelon Corp. and Constellation Energy Group have reached an agreement with Electricite de France, a large Constellation shareholder, for the French utility to withdraw its opposition to a proposed merger between the companies. The terms of the agreement address Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, a joint venture between Constellation and EDF that owns and operates three nuclear facilities with generating units in Maryland and New York. No payment was made by either party associated with the agreement, which reaffirms the terms of the joint venture.

Electricite de France's proposal to invest $4.5 billion in Constellation Energy Group's nuclear-generation business looks like it has a shot. Since the state-owned French electricity giant pitched the deal last week, investors have bid Constellation stock as high as $29. That's a bet that a rival proposal from Warren Buffett for $26.50 won't go through or that Buffett will take it seriously enough to increase his offer. Rating agencies have suggested that if Constellation shareholders reject Buffett's deal in favor of EDF, Constellation would have enough cash at hand to avoid bankruptcy court.

Gov. Martin O'Malley met Tuesday with officials of Constellation Energy Group's French partner to discuss ways to revive the proposed third reactor at Calvert Cliffs, after the Baltimore company pulled out of federal financing negotiations this weekend, sharply setting back plans for the plant. O'Malley is one of several state and local officials who hope to keep the project alive and save thousands of jobs to build and operate the $9.6 billion reactor in Southern Maryland. Constellation and Electricite de France formed Unistar Nuclear Energy to develop nuclear power plants in the United States, including a third unit at Calvert Cliffs.

This is a column about how Constellation Energy Group and Electricite de France are going to scrap the $4.5 billion deal that has filled headlines, politics and regulators' files for eight months. My apologies for not writing it sooner - like the day they announced it. We should know by now that, any time Constellation contemplates matrimony, the courtship is probably doomed to political resistance and heartache. Shame about that third nuclear reactor the companies were going to build at Calvert Cliffs on the Chesapeake.

The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners has gone on record numerous times in support of the proposed expansion at Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. We take the decision to support the expansion seriously. We have weighed the impact of the project on our community based upon the plant's 30-year safe operating history, and we have considered the energy issues facing Maryland and the nation. The board testified before the Maryland Public Service Commission Sept.

Federal regulators denied a license Thursday to the French-controlled company for a proposed third nuclear reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland, giving the company 60 days to find a U.S. partner. At the end of those 60 days, the three judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board wrote, they would be forced to terminate the company's application proceedings entirely. The decision follows warnings from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in April 2011 that UniStar Nuclear Energy, which is owned by Electricite de France, is not eligible to control the proposed $9.6 billion Calvert Cliffs 3 project under its current ownership structure.

Maryland energy regulators are expected to issue a decision Friday on the proposed sale of Constellation Energy Group to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. The decision comes after the state Public Service Commission launched an exhaustive review of the $7.9 billion deal, involving 13 days of hearings, three public comment sessions and thousands of pages of documents. Analysts think that the proposed merger hinges on approval by Maryland regulators. The deal also still requires approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Exelon Corp. and Constellation Energy Group have reached an agreement with Electricite de France, a large Constellation shareholder, for the French utility to withdraw its opposition to a proposed merger between the companies. The terms of the agreement address Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, a joint venture between Constellation and EDF that owns and operates three nuclear facilities with generating units in Maryland and New York. No payment was made by either party associated with the agreement, which reaffirms the terms of the joint venture.

The state Board of Public Works gave its unanimous approval Wednesday to a wetlands dredging permit for a company that hopes to build a third nuclear reactor at the Calvert Cliffs power plant in Southern Maryland, even though the project is far from getting off the ground. The board granted the permit to UniStar Operating Services LLC after being told approval would help the company secure the licensing, financing and U.S.-based partner it would need to get the stalled project moving.

Shareholders for Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. today approved the merger of the two energy companies. The confirmation of the $7.9 billion deal by shareholders was widely expected by analysts, but had its critics. Federal and state regulatory reviews are still required for the deal, which company officials say is on track to close in the first quarter of next year. More than three-quarters of Constellation's shareholders submitted votes on the deal; the special shareholders' meeting took place in New York City.

Two years ago, Constellation Energy Group and its French nuclear partner EDF were BFFs. Today, with EDF seeking to torpedo the Baltimore company's plan to sell itself to Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the relationship between the former "best friends forever" has clearly deteriorated. The French utility — Constellation's second-largest shareholder — is pushing Maryland energy regulators to reject the proposed $7.9 billion merger. A consultant hired by EDF is scheduled to testify Wednesday as the second week of hearings continues before the Maryland Public Service Commission.

The conflict between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Constellation Energy Group over the $4.5 billion sale of half its nuclear assets to Electricit? de France ratcheted up a notch this week with the filing of a legal brief calling on the Maryland Public Service Commission to force the company to make all the concessions the governor has been seeking in private talks for months. That isn't how the PSC will necessarily see things - one hopes the agency remains the independent regulatory body it's supposed to be - but there are some troubling aspects to the administration's effort that look no better when viewed on the printed page.

More shareholders are joining a major Constellation Energy Group investor in protesting the company's $4.7 billion sale to Warren E. Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings. At least six lawsuits, including one yesterday, have been filed since the shotgun takeover was announced late last week. Electricite de France, Constellation's partner in nuclear power development and one of its largest shareholders, revealed Monday that it had offered a substantially higher bid of $6.2 billion. EDF said the Baltimore company's board of directors failed to respond to its offer of $35 a share but approved Buffett's $26.50-a-share bid. EDF's offer "just confirms what everyone was saying last week, that this deal was very cheap," said John Isbister, an attorney at Baltimore's Tydings and Rosenberg who filed two lawsuits, including one yesterday, in Baltimore Circuit Court.

Constellation Energy's second-largest shareholder and a partner in its nuclear business grilled the Baltimore company's chairman and chief executive, Mayo A. Shattuck III, about his compensation and proposed role at Exelon Corp. during the second day of regulatory hearings on the $7.9 billion merger of the two energy giants. EDF Group opposes the merger and has had a strained relationship with Constellation since last fall, when the Baltimore utility pulled out of plans to develop a proposed third nuclear unit at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland.