NRC issues ruling in Calvert Cliffs 3 new reactor application prohibiting foreign ownership: Demise of French nuclear misadventure in US almost complete

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has ruled that embattled French governmental electric utility, Électricité de France (EDF) is ineligible to receive a Combined Operating License for the construction of the Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) in Lusby, Maryland. The Order finds the new reactor applicant, UniStar, is a U.S. corporation wholly-owned by the French government.  The NRC had no choice but to recognize the violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which prohibits control of US domestic nuclear power by foreign governments. But in a "second last chance" notice, NRC gave the UniStar and Calvert Cliffs 3 an additional sixty-days to come up with a domestic partner after which the NRC licensing board will close the proceeding.  Beyond Nuclear, which has opposed the third reactor and supports a nuclear phase out, views the decision as simply a delay in the inevitable cancellation of all French reactor plans on US soil.