Amazon Signs Long-Term Power Purchase Agreement to Support $3 Billion Investment: Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant Plans 190 MW Power Uprate and License Renewal Application

Constellation Energy and tech giant Amazon officially announced on September 30 the signing of a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The agreement will fully support a major infrastructure upgrade investment exceeding $3 billion at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland, with the core plan including a total 190 MW power uprate for two operating Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) units.

This 20-year PPA locks in a 690 MW power supply allocation, which includes the added uprate capacity. This long-term commercial offtake commitment not only injects stable revenue return expectations into the nuclear power site with a total installed capacity of 1.79 GW, but also provides solid economic support for Constellation Energy to initiate a subsequent 20-year Subsequent License Renewal (SLR) application for the units. The additional 190 MW of generation capacity is planned to be progressively connected to the grid between 2030 and 2032.

Although Constellation Energy has not yet disclosed the specific list of engineering contractors or the specific allocation ratio of the $3 billion funds among power uprate, plant-wide modernization, and license renewal projects, preliminary hardware technical modifications have already begun. As early as February 2025, Constellation Energy announced an investment of approximately $100 million for the refurbishment of key electrical systems and major equipment, including the overhaul and replacement of pumps, motors, specialty valves, Control Rod Drive Mechanisms (CRDMs), as well as extensive overhaul of 13 kV main transformers; subsequently, an additional $68 million was invested to upgrade 24 high-voltage circuit breakers at the site substation.

Regarding nuclear safety review, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a closed-door meeting with Constellation Energy on October 1 to conduct in-depth discussions on the subsequent License Amendment Request (LAR) for Calvert Cliffs Units 1 and 2. NRC Senior Public Affairs Officer Scott Burnell noted that the owner must publicly submit power uprate or license renewal application documents in accordance with statutory procedures, and the regulatory body can only establish a specific review schedule after confirming acceptance and docketing of the application.

The Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant holds multiple technical benchmark significances in the history of U.S. nuclear power: the two reactors supplied by Combustion Engineering not only became the first units in the United States approved for stretch power uprate in 1977, but also became the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States to receive an initial license renewal in 2000. Currently, the existing operating licenses for Unit 1 and Unit 2 will expire on July 31, 2034 and August 13, 2036, respectively.

During the refueling outage window for Unit 1 completed in 2026, Constellation Energy spent nearly $90 million to advance heavy equipment replacement, including the successful lifting and installation of a large transformer worth $4.8 million and weighing 151 tons. By signing long-term clean power agreements with technology companies, the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant is building a new commercial closed-loop model of "computing energy demand supporting deep nuclear technical upgrades, nuclear capacity expansion ensuring a zero-carbon grid."