Parent Of Retail Supplier Announces Investment For Uprates At Two Nuclear Plants

Constellation said today that it will invest $800 million in new equipment to increase the output of its Braidwood and Byron nuclear generating stations in Illinois by approximately 135 megawatts,

The Braidwood and Byron projects involve replacing the main turbines at the two facilities with high efficiency units that are expected to add approximately 135 megawatts of output at the nuclear plants.

Constellation expects to see increased output at the stations as early as 2026, with the full uprated output available by 2029. Work on the uprates will occur in stages during scheduled refueling outages.

"These investments in our world class nuclear fleet will allow us to generate more zero-carbon energy with the same amount of fuel and land," said Joe Dominguez, president and CEO of Constellation.

Constellation said that the investments are, "a direct result of state and federal policies," that "recognize" the "value" of nuclear energy, referring to the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act

"Support for nuclear in the IRA has made extending the lives of U.S. nuclear assets to 80 years more likely assuming continued support. It has caused Constellation to examine nuclear uprate opportunities that were cancelled a decade ago due to market forces," Constellation said