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Exelon CEO applauds administration for looking at US nuclear plant retirements

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Exelon CEO applauds administration for looking at US nuclear plant retirements

Exelon Corp. CEO Chris Crane praised the Trump administration for working to avoid further nuclear power plant closures, calling the ongoing wave of retirements an "under-analyzed situation."

But Crane stopped short of endorsing a draft plan from the U.S. Department of Energy that would require grid operators to buy power or capacity from "fuel-secure" plants, including nuclear units, that are at risk of closing. He said the DOE has not yet provided enough information on which to make a judgement regarding whether the use of the agency's emergency authorities is justified.

"We want action. I don't know how you call it emergency or not emergency," Crane said June 6 at the Edison Electric Institute's annual convention in San Diego. "This administration supports action. We support this administration."

Exelon owns a substantial amount of nuclear generation. Two of its facilities, the Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey and the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, are set to close amid heightened competition from natural gas-fired generation and what some say are flawed market rules that do not adequately compensate nuclear generators for their environmental and reliability attributes.

The rate of retirement of U.S. nuclear plants has troubled the Trump administration and spurred the DOE to seek subsidies for facilities facing early closure. Most recently, the agency created a draft plan that would require grid operators to buy power and capacity from certain coal-fired, nuclear and other "fuel-secure" plants during the two years the administration is expected to take to identify plants that are critical to national defense.

The plan was dated May 29 and took the form of a draft addendum to a larger order that has not yet been finalized or even made public. But while he declined to "pass judgment on it" without additional information, the plan's emphasis on supporting nuclear energy to bolster national security resounded with Crane.

"We have an administration that we greatly appreciate now that recognizes this is an under-analyzed situation, and if we don't focus on resiliency and national security, we could end up in a very dire situation," he said.

Crane said the abundance of competitively priced U.S. natural gas has been good for the economy and manufacturing but, "at the end of the day, we're going to be held accountable to keep the lights on and keep it affordable."

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission launched a review of grid resilience after rejecting the DOE's earlier bid to provide market support for financially struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants. But Crane said FERC needs to act quickly to avoid the loss of more nuclear capacity.

"One thing I know is when we shut a nuclear plant down, it's never coming back," he said.