Costs of Nuclear Bailouts in New York, Illinois, Connecticut & New Jersey

Form: The form of the subsidy, for instance, either as a nuclear credit 

or above-market power contract. Subsidies adopted to date are either 

priced as nuclear credits separate from the sale of electricity and other 

ancillary services; or in the form of contracts to purchase electricity 

at higher prices than prevailing market prices.

 

Price: The unit cost of subsidies, based on the amount of electricity 

generated. In the case of power contracts, the subsidy price is 

calculated as an estimate of the average difference in the subsidized 

price and average market prices.

 

Duration: Length of time for which subsidies are committed or 

authorized.

 

Reactors: The number of reactors authorized to receive subsidies 

under the program.

 

Capacity: The total amount of electricity generation capacity authorized 

to receive subsidies, measured in megawatts (MW) of capacity.

 

Generation: The average annual amount of electricity generated by 

the subsidized capacity, or the maximum amount of generation to be 

subsidized.

 

Cost/year: The average annual projected cost of the nuclear subsidy.

 

Total Cost: The total projected cost of the nuclear subsidy program, 

over the full term.

 

Costs of Other State Nuclear Bailouts

 

State	Form	Price	Duration	Reactors	Capacity	Generation	Cost/year	Total Cost
New York	Credit	$17.48-$29.15/MWh (rises every 2 yrs.)	12 yrs (2017-2029)	4	3,351 MW	27,618,000 MWh	$483M-$804M	~$7.6 billion
Illinois	Credit	$16.50-$20.50/MWh (rises every year after yr. 7)	10 yrs (2017-2027)	3	2,780 MW	22,900,000 MWh	$235M (cost capped at ~$10/MWh)	$2.35 billion
New Jersey	Credit	~$10/MWh	3 yrs., up to 12 yrs.	3	3,573 MW	29,400,000 MWh	~$300M	<$3.6 billion
Connecticut	Power Contract	Unknown (price not yet finalized)	10 yrs.	3	~1,300 MW	~11 million MWh	Unknown (est. ≤ $330M)	Unknown (est. ≤ $3.3 billion)
TOTAL				13	11,000 MW	81 million MWh	> $1.1 billion/yr	~$15 billion

  

Subsidies to New York reactors are projected to total as much as $7.6 billion over 12 years (2017-2029).

Judson, Tim. “Too Big to Bail Out: The Economic Costs of a National Nuclear Power Subsidy.”

 Nuclear Information and Resource Ser­vice.  November 2016.

https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Report-TooBigToBailOut-NIRS.pdf

 

Illinois subsidies are projected to total $2.35 billion over 10 years (2017-2027). Daniels, Steve.

 “How Exelon will keep getting bailout money in Illinois—whether it needs it or not.” Crain’s Chicago Business. August 2, 2017. 

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/arti­cle/20170802/NEWS11/170809972/how-exelon-will-keep-getting-bailout-money-in-illinois-whether-it-needs-it-or-not

 

Connecticut subsidies could amount to $330 million per year, in five-year contracts.

Energyzt Advisors, LLC. “Financial Assessment: Millstone Nuclear Power Plant.” April 2017.

https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ENERGYZT_Assessment_of_Millstone_201704_FINAL.pdf

 

New Jersey subsidies are estimated to cost consumers $300 million per year, in extendable three-year periods.