DOE commits more than $9B to boost nuclear power, including at Beaver Valley plant

DOE commits more than $9B to boost nuclear power, including at Beaver Valley plant

The U.S. Department of Energy is investing more than $9 billion to help increase production of nuclear power at existing plants in Beaver County and elsewhere in Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

The DOE Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced Tuesday it would provide as much as a $5 billion conditional loan guarantee to boost electricity generating at Constellation Energy's plants in Limerick, Pennsylvania, plus in Maryland and Illinois.  It follows DOE's $4.2 billion conditional loan commitment to Vistra, owner of the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station, earlier this month, which will add about 433 megawatts of electrical power at its plants.  Vistra owns Beaver Valley and two plants in Ohio.

The loan commitments are part of the Trump administration's wide-ranging initiative to boost nuclear power in the United States, an effort that is also helping Cranberry Township-based nuclear company Westinghouse Electric Co.  The Department of Energy's billions of dollars in financing to Westinghouse are helping to build new nuclear power plants across the United States.