The construction of a new nuclear power plant is likely to be very expensive –between $2.5 billion and $5 billion to build and and take a long time to complete. Areva, a French-government owned company and Constellation’s partner in the proposed third reactor, has fallen 1.5 years behind on the construction of a reactor of the same size and design in Finland, adding $922 million to the cost of the plant.
Cleaning up the plant after its operating license expires and it has quit generating power will cost an estimated $290 to $370 million, excluding the cost of storing spent fuel and other radioactive waste. Constellation Energy and the French government-owned Areva may seek to shift the financial risk of the new reactor to Maryland taxpayers and electricity consumers.
The federal government has offered up to $13 billion in subsidies to
encourage the construction of new nuclear powerplants across the
country.
Calvert County has already promised $300 million in tax breaks to
Constellation if the company builds a new reactor at Calvert Cliffs.
This is equal to $4,500 per taxpayer in Calvert County. The new plant
will add 450 full-time jobs in the ounty, but at a cost to taxpayers of
approximately $750,000 per job.
Despite this massive tax break, Constellation may seek additional financing from the state.
Constellation could also try to force ratepayers to pay the cost of its license application, whether or not it decides to build the reactor, as other utilities have tried elsewhere. Building a third reactor at Calvert Cliffs will threaten public health by dding to the amount of radioactive material that could be released through an accident or terrorist attack involving the plant or its radioactive waste.