Third nuclear reactor denied for Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs

Plans to build a third reactor at southern Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs were halted — perhaps permanently — on Monday as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission upheld its earlier decision to reject the project.

Based largely on the fact that the applicant’s parent company is 85 percent owned by the French government, the commission again said “no” to UniStar Nuclear Operating Service’s proposal to build and operate the reactor near Lusby.

...Opponents of nuclear energy are holding up Monday’s decision as a victory in a much larger fight.

“The NRC commissioners have provided the public with a rare bit of good news … Maryland’s future is clear: it will be based on clean renewable power, not dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear reactors,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which has long opposed the project.

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