In a report published this week, utility company Constellation Energy pointed to its operating nuclear fleet as a main driver of its sustainable energy goals.
“With 24/7 generation capacity, our nuclear plants support the expansion of renewables by stabilizing the grid against the intermittent nature of wind and solar generation,” Constellation said in the report published Wednesday. “Nuclear is, therefore, a vital source of zero-emissions energy.”
Constellation, which as of February manages the nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar and natural gas assets formerly owned by utility Exelon, operates 13 nuclear power plants including the economically-troubled Byron and Dresden facilities in Illinois and Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor.
“Policymakers and stakeholders increasingly recognize that nuclear energy will be crucial in decarbonizing the economy and meeting the growing need for electricity,” Constellation wrote Wednesday. “To reach our own goals, and for the U.S. to achieve its decarbonization goals, we need to preserve existing nuclear capacity.”
Constellation said that it plans to apply with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 20-year license extensions for some of its nuclear plants “where there is policy and market support” for propping up nuclear power.
The utility also expressed its support for a roughly $15-per-megawatt-hour nuclear tax credit made law in August as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Under that law, the credits program would begin in 2024 and run for about ten years — through 2032.
As of Friday, Constellation had not responded to a request for comment on whether it had submitted a bid on the Department of Energy’s roughly $6 billion civil nuclear credits program. Tuesday was the deadline for DOE’s first $1.2 billion payout under that program.
The utility has already expressed interest in maintaining its nuclear fleet as part of a clean energy strategy. During a January earnings call, chief strategy officer Kathleen Barrón said that expanding renewable energy without including nuclear energy is like “running in place.”
Meanwhile, Constellation on Wednesday said that it “supports efforts to consolidate spent fuel storage for several nuclear sites to one or more interim sites.” The utility mentioned two ongoing private interim storage projects — Holtec International’s proposed site in New Mexico and a similar site planned for Texas by Interim Storage Partners.
