Edf Group

The dismantling of Exelon Corp.'s Zion Station nuclear power plant near Chicago is setting several remarkable precedents. It's the biggest-ever nuclear decommissioning job in the United States, says Exelon, which is seeking permission to buy Constellation Energy and Baltimore Gas & Electric. The enterprise will take a decade, employing hundreds. Instead of separating the radioactive debris from the nonradioactive, the usual method, workers will ship most of the rubble to Utah and dump it in the desert.

Will the deal allowing Constellation Energy to sell half its nuclear business to the French EDF Group (approved by the Public Service Commission and both companies) be good for Maryland? Yes 64% No 26% Not sure 10% (1,005 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Is the statue of William Donald Schaefer that was unveiled at the Inner Harbor this week an appropriate tribute to the former mayor, governor and comptroller? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

Constellation Energy Group walked away this weekend from federal financing negotiations for a proposed third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs in a move that casts the project into doubt and threatens to erase thousands of jobs to build and operate the plant, as well as cut off a crucial supply of power expected to lower prices. Known as Calvert Cliffs 3, the new nuclear plant was expected to generate 1,600 megawatts of carbon-free energy, which would help alleviate an expected electricity shortfall in Central Maryland that could start as early as next year.

From Jay Hancock's blog: Constellation Energy Group's board met on Friday, and there was speculation that it would vote to exercise an option to sell fossil-fuel electricity plants to France's EDF Group. The plants are worth $1 billion. The option gives CEG the right to sell for $2 billion. Naturally the French really really don't want CEG to pull the trigger. But CEG seems not to have yet exercised its "put. " If the board had acted one would have expected an announcement on Friday.

Constellation Energy Group's board of directors on Friday elected Samuel Minzberg to fill a seat slated for its French partner. Minzberg is replacing Daniel Camus, chief financial officer of French EDF Group, which is the Baltimore company's largest shareholder and a partner in a nuclear development venture between the two companies. No reason was given for Camus' resignation. Minzberg is a partner in the Montreal law firm of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. The two companies have been trying to develop nuclear projects in the U.S., most prominently at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland.

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 a week when the term "executive bonus" became a profanity, leadership at Constellation Energy did the right thing and reversed itself on millions of dollars in extra retention and performance pay for top executives that was part of the company's $4.5 billion sale of nuclear assets to EDF Group. This was never comparable to the scandalous behavior at taxpayer-subsidized American International Group, but the Constellation bonuses were unquestionably poorly timed. Lawmakers in Annapolis are on the verge of deciding whether to re-regulate the energy industry here, and many ratepayers are fuming over big winter utility bills.

French utility EDF Group is asking the state for help in developing a third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland. Thomas Piquemal, EDF's executive vice president of finance, met this week with Gov. Martin O'Malley in Washington, where the governor was attending the National Governors Association winter conference. Piquemal also met with Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Southern Maryland. The two discussed ways to push forward the project, which has had some setbacks.

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.