Nuclear Reactors Play a Vital Role in Meeting Tomorrow’s Energy Demands States Mayo Shattuck

(PRLEAP.COM) According to Mayo A. Shattuck, the president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Constellation Energy, nuclear power is on the verge of rebirth, poised to become a reliable source of energy and competitively priced. This belief has led him to start taking the steps necessary to develop and promote new nuclear, and Mayo Shattuck recently ordered the essential parts for a new reactor. Should a new reactor be added by Mayo Shattuck to the current stock of five reactors currently held by Constellation Energy, he may be the first to build a nuclear power plant in over thirty years.

With the leadership of Mayo A. Shattuck, Constellation Energy is planning to apply for a reactor-operating license by the close of 2007. This license would be for one of two possible sites. The sites under consideration are the Nine Mile Point site in upstate New York, and Calvert Cliffs site in Maryland. Constellation Energy currently operates two reactors at each site. At Calvert Cliffs, Constellation Energy is running reactors built in the 1960s and ‘70s; at Nine Mile Point, Constellation Energy is operating reactors acquired in 2001.

The confidence in nuclear power comes from Constellation Energy’s expertise in safely and efficiently operating nuclear reactors. In the 1990s reorganization of the utility industry, Constellation Energy was able to use the opportunity to double its position in nuclear power. With its demonstrated ability to run safely multiple reactors at a profit, Mayo A. Shattuck stated: “This organization has a history of feeling that they have done well in nuclear,” adding: “We can continue to do well in nuclear and shouldn’t shy away from that responsibility.”

This level of expertise with nuclear power stemmed from the past experience it had in the first years of nuclear power, said Mayo A. Shattuck. He cited Michael J. Wallace, president of the generational division of Constellation Energy: “Mike is the only executive in the utility sector today who was an executive responsible for building new nuclear plants the last time around. Mike supervised the construction and start-up of two nuclear plants built in Illinois that entered commercial service in the late 1980s, Bryon and Braidwood.”

Constellation Energy’s aspirations extend to the building and operating of reactors for other utilities. To forward this endeavor, Constellation Energy recently formed a partnership with a reactor manufacturer. This partnership is part of the strategy to minimize the financial risk associated with building and operating nuclear reactors because of the time necessary to complete the project from the phase that the reactor is ordered to its completion. This time frame is approximately ten years.

The plan to minimize risk, proposed by Mayo Shattuck, includes identical plants to achieve significantly reduced design costs on successive plants and enabling nuclear operators to shuffle from plant to plant because of identical operating processes. The ability for an operator to move from plant to plant is currently unheard of, even if the reactors were right next to each other.

The partnership with Areva, named UniStar Nuclear, is in the process of building a model in Finland. “A lot of it is establishing a model that mitigates risk as you move forward,” Mayo A. Shattuck stated. “A lot of players out there haven’t quite figured oout how they’re going to go to their boards and ask for $4 billion, for which they will get cash flows in 13 years.” Constellation Energy’s business plans for the future consider two things: the opportunities offered by nuclear power and the best way for Constellation Energy to position themselves to take the greatest advantage of predicted future market circumstances.

The plans and attitudes, coupled with the successful leadership of the Constellation Energy executives, including Mayo A. Shattuck will take Constellation Energy to the forefront of new technology to address the ever increasing energy needs.

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