Constellation pulls plug on nuke reactor and $7.5 billion DOE loan - The Hill's E2-Wire

By Darren Goode - 10/09/10 11:12 AM ET

"Constellation Energy has pulled the plug on building a new reactor at its Calvert Cliffs (Md.) nuclear plant despite a promised $7.5 billion Energy Department loan guarantee, dealing a potential blow to efforts to create a U.S. nuclear renaissance as well as the promised effectiveness of the department’s loan program.

The company – in a letter Friday to Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman – cited “significant and ongoing uncertainty” due to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s “inability to address significant problems with its methodology for determining the project’s credit subsidy cost and the unreasonably burdensome conditions a loan guarantee under this approach would require."