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 energy facilities at selected sites throughout the United States.
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 EPR™ reactor design, which will be known in the United States as the U.S. EPR™ reactor. UniStar selected the U.S. EPR™ design because we believe it offers the highest levels of reactor safety, security, and reliability. And, by working to license, construct and operate the most efficient fleet of advanced nuclear energy facilities in the U.S., UniStar is also working to help reduce the negative impacts of global climate change caused by carbon emissions.

UniStar’s customers—primarily utilities and energy companies—want the greatest possible certainty when it comes to nuclear energy generation. They want to know that, if they decide to build a U.S. EPR™ reactor, the new facility 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 energy development.

By the time the first U.S. EPR™ reactor begins operation, this advanced design will be already operating in Finland, France, and China, helping UniStar and its partners avoid the additional business risks associated with any first-of-a-kind technology.

The UniStar Nuclear Energy business model offers customers the advantage of becoming part of a standardized fleet of new nuclear energy facilities 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 nuclear energy facility.

In addition, UniStar creates individual project companies for each proposed facility. 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 companies considering new nuclear energy are unwilling to undertake one of these projects alone—and most of our individual project companies will have multiple owners. However, if a utility wants sole ownership of a U.S. EPR™ reactor, the structure of our business model allows for that as well. Every U.S. EPR™ reactor owner that partners with UniStar will reap the fleet benefits associated with being part of our standardized U.S. EPR™ technology owners’ group.

Unlike the nation’s 104 existing nuclear energy facilities, which were built individually without consideration of a standardized technology or design, each U.S. EPR™ reactor will be virtually identical. This standardization will help ensure fewer delays in securing regulatory approvals and constructing the facilities, and will lower the costs of procuring components, and operating and maintaining the facility.

The U.S. EPR™ reactor is a next-generation, 1600 MWe pressurized water reactor. It's design is based on technology originally developed in America, and subsequently advanced in Europe over several decades of construction and operation. It's design is evolutionary, not revolutionary, having evolved from mature and proven technologies used in the most modern European nuclear energy facilities operating today. UniStar believes the U.S. EPR™ design is the safest and most secure new nuclear energy generation technology available in the world today. The AREVA EPR™ design incorporates significant improvements in safety with four redundant safeguard systems and features double-walled containment, designed to withstand the impact of a large commercial aircraft. It also takes performance to the next level through streamlined construction, higher efficiency, and flexible operation.

The EPR™ technology is already under construction in Olkiluoto, Finland; Flamanville, France; and in Guandong province, China. Therefore, four EPR™ reactors will be constructed and online prior to the first unit becoming operational in the U.S.

UniStar worked closely with reactor-manufacturer AREVA, the world’s leading nuclear supplier, on development of AREVA's Design Certification Application (DCA) for the U.S. EPR™ technology. 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. EPR™ reactors at selected sites throughout the U.S.

It is important to note that neither UniStar nor any of its customer-partners has made a final decision to build a new nuclear energy facility. 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 facility.

UniStar's lead project is a proposed U.S. EPR™ reactor adjacent to Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, LLC's Calvert Clfifs Nuclear Power Plant in southern Maryland.

Currently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reviewing UniStar's Combined License (COL) application to construct and operate Calvert Cliffs Unit 3.

Planning to build a fleet of U.S. EPR™ reactors 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. AREVA EPR™ reactor construction projects in Finland, France and China 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. EPR reactors. 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.

To minimize the environmental impact of a new reactor at Clavert Cliffs, UniStar has taken several important and extraordinary steps.

These include plants to:

UniStar does not yet have any operating nuclear energy facilities. 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 numerous awards . We are particularly proud of the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) recertification of 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.

It should be noted that all companies that operate nuclear energy facilities have extensive environmental programs. At Calvert Cliffs there are programs to protect endangered Puritan and Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetles and bald eagle nesting sites. In addition, the site maintains bluebird boxes and osprey nesting platforms.

There are several other new-reactor technologies being considered by other companies, but UniStar and its customers believe that the U.S. EPR™ reactor is the best, safest and most efficient new-reactor design available today. The U.S. EPR™ design is also the only Generation III+ design that is already under construction (projects are underway in Finland, France and China) – and is the only design with a dual-containment reactor building, which is capable of withstanding a collision by a large commercial aircraft.

Established under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Secretary of Energy is authorized to make loan guarantees to qualified projects in the belief that accelerated commercial use of these new or improved technologies will help to sustain economic growth, yield environmental benefits, and produce a more stable and secure energy supply. Congress has authorized $38.5 billion in loan volume for the loan guarantee program, including $18.5 billion for nuclear energy projects. The loan guarantee program is not a subsidy. Unlike other federal loan guarantee programs, project developers are required to pay the cost of tthe loan guarantee, as well as the full cost of administering the program.

Loan guarantees represent a necessary but insufficient step for UniStar and its parent companies, Constellation Energy and EDF Group, to make a final decision to build a new nuclear energy facility. UniStar's Calvert Cliffs 3 project is one of three remaining new nuclear energy projects currently in detailed negotiations with the DOE for a share of aforementioned $18.5 billion loan guarantee allotment. On February 16, 2010, President Obama announced that Southern Company's proposed Vogtle 3 and 4 project in Georgia is the first recipient of a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee for a new nuclear energy project. Also in February, President Obama released his proposed 2011 budget, which featured a $36 billion increase in the federal loan guarantee budget for advanced nuclear projects.

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

Construction of the proposed Calvert Cliffs-3 nuclear energy facility would create roughly 4,000 jobs for pipe fitters, welders, electricians and other skilled trades workers during peak construction. A new nuclear energy facility at Calvert Cliffs also would result in approximately 400 new, permanent jobs after the project would be completed.

Nuclear energy is clean-air energy. It is the best source of base-load (i.e. continuously generated) power that does not produce carbon emissions. Nuclear energy is available 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week.

This high and efficient output from nuclear energy facilities drives economic performance. The average cost of U.S. nuclear electricity production in 2008 was 1.87 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is less expensive than coal and one-quarter of the cost of natural gas. Nuclear energy’s production costs are stable and are not subject to extreme market fluctuations as are natural gas and oil.

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

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

A new nuclear energy facility has not been ordered in the U.S. since 1979. Yet, U.S. nuclear energy facility operators have been successful in improving safety and efficiency at the nation’s existing facilities. Existing nuclear energy facility 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 facility is capable of producing. By contrast, wind power operates at about 30 percent and is unlikely to improve, as the capacity of wind-powered faclities is limited to the amount of time the wind blows.

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