9. Early Nuclear Plant Retirements (Exelon and Generation)

Exelon and Generation continue to evaluate the current and expected economic value of each of Generation’s nuclear plants. Factors that will continue to affect the economic value of Generation’s nuclear plants include, but are not limited to: market power prices, results of capacity auctions, potential legislative and regulatory solutions to ensure nuclear plants are fairly compensated for their carbon-free emissions, and the impact of final rules from the EPA requiring reduction of carbon and other emissions and the efforts of states to implement those final rules.

In 2015, Generation identified the Quad Cities, Clinton and Ginna nuclear plants as having the greatest risk of early retirement based on economic valuation and other factors. At that time, Exelon and Generation deferred retirement decisions on Clinton and Quad Cities until 2016 in order to participate in the 2016-2017 MISO primary reliability auction and the 2019-2020 PJM capacity auctions held in April and May 2016, respectively, as well as to provide Illinois policy makers with additional time to consider needed reforms and for MISO to consider market design changes to ensure long-term power system reliability in southern Illinois.

In April 2016, Clinton cleared the MISO primary reliability auction as a price taker for the 2016-2017 planning year. The resulting capacity price was insufficient to cover cash operating costs and a risk-adjusted rate of return to shareholders. In May 2016, Quad Cities did not clear in the PJM capacity auction for the 2019-2020 planning year and will not receive capacity revenue for that period.

Based on these capacity auction results, and given the lack of progress on Illinois energy legislation and MISO market reforms, on June 2, 2016 Generation announced it would move forward to shut down the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plants on June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018, respectively. The current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses for Clinton and Quad Cities expire in 2026 and 2032, respectively.

In June 2016, as a result of the retirement decision for Clinton and Quad Cities, Exelon and Generation recognized one-time charges in Operating and maintenance expense of $146 million related to materials and supplies inventory reserve adjustments, employee-related costs and construction work-in-progress (CWIP) impairments, among other items. In addition to these one-time charges, Exelon and Generation began recognizing incremental non-cash charges to earnings stemming from shortening the expected economic useful life of Clinton and Quad Cities, including accelerated depreciation of plant assets (along with any asset retirement costs (ARC)), accelerated amortization of nuclear fuel, and additional asset retirement obligation (ARO) accretion expense associated with the changes in decommissioning timing and cost assumptions.

On December 7, 2016, Illinois FEJA was signed into law by the Governor of Illinois and included a ZES that provides compensation through the procurement of ZECs targeted at preserving the environmental attributes of zero-emissions nuclear-powered generating facilities that meet specific eligibility criteria, much like the solution implemented with the New York CES. The Illinois ZES will have a 10-year duration extending from June 1, 2017 through May 31, 2027. See Note 3 - Regulatory Matters for additional discussion on the Illinois FEJA and the ZES.

With the passage of the Illinois ZES, and subject to prevailing over any related potential administrative or legal challenges, in December 2016 Generation reversed its June 2016 decision to permanently cease generation operations at the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear generating plants. Accordingly, in December 2016 Exelon and Generation reversed approximately $120 million of the one-time charges initially recorded in June 2016 associated with the early retirements primarily for employee-related costs and a materials and supplies inventory reserve adjustment. In addition, Generation updated the expected economic useful life for both facilities, to 2027 for Clinton, commensurate with the end of the Illinois ZES, and to 2032 for Quad Cities, the end of its current operating license. Depreciation was therefore adjusted beginning December 7, 2016, to reflect these extended useful life estimates. See Note 16 - Asset Retirement Obligations for additional detail on changes to the Nuclear decommissioning ARO balances resulting from the initial decision and subsequent reversal of the decision to early retire Clinton and Quad Cities.

Through December 31, 2016, Exelon's and Generation's results include a net incremental $688 million of pre-tax expense associated with the initial early retirement decision for Clinton and Quad Cities, as summarized in the table below.




Income statement expense (pre-tax)	2016

Depreciation and Amortization
Accelerated depreciation^(a)	$	712
Accelerated nuclear fuel amortization	60
Operating and Maintenance
Increase ARO accretion, net of contractual offset^(b)	2
Contractual offset for ARC depreciation^(b)	(86		)
Total	$	688

_________


(a)	Reflects incremental accelerated depreciation of plant assets, including any ARC, for the period June 2, 2016, through December 6, 2016.

(b)

For Quad Cities based on the regulatory agreement with the Illinois Commerce Commission, decommissioning-related activities are offset within Exelon's and Generation's Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. The offset results in an equal adjustment to the noncurrent payables to ComEd at Generation and an adjustment to the regulatory liabilities at ComEd. Likewise, ComEd has recorded an equal noncurrent affiliate receivable from Generation and corresponding regulatory liability.

In New York, the Ginna and Nine Mile Point nuclear plants continue to face significant economic challenges and risk of retirement before the end of each unit’s respective operating license period (2029 for Ginna and Nine Mile Point Unit 1, and 2046 for Nine Mile Point Unit 2). On August 1, 2016, the NYPSC issued an order adopting the CES, which would provide payments to Ginna and Nine Mile Point for the environmental attributes of their production. On November 18, 2016 Ginna and Nine Mile Point executed the necessary contracts with NYSERDA, as required under the CES. Subject to prevailing over any administrative or legal challenges, the CES will allow Ginna and Nine Mile Point to continue to operate at least through the life of the program (March 31, 2029). The assumed useful life for depreciation purposes is through the end of their current operating licenses. The approved RSSA currently requires Ginna to continue operating through the RSSA term expiring on March 31, 2017 and required notification to the NYPSC if Ginna did not plan to retire shortly after the expiration of the RSSA. On September 30, 2016, Ginna filed the required notice with the NYPSC of its intent to continue operating beyond the expiry of the RSSA. Refer to Note 3 - Regulatory Matters for additional discussion on the Ginna RSSA and the New York CES.

Assuming the successful implementation of the Illinois ZES and the New York CES and the continued effectiveness of these programs, Generation and CENG, through its ownership of Ginna and Nine Mile Point, no longer consider Clinton, Quad Cities, Ginna or Nine Mile Point to be at heightened risk for early retirement. However, to the extent either the Illinois ZES or the New York CES programs do not operate as expected over their full terms, each of these plants could again be at heightened risk for early retirement, which could have a material impact on Exelon’s and Generation’s future results of operations, cash flows and financial position.

The Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant also did not clear in the May 2016 PJM capacity auction for the 2019-2020 planning year and will not receive capacity revenue for that period. This is the second consecutive year that TMI failed to clear the capacity auction. Although the plant is committed to operate through May 2019, the plant faces continued economic challenges and Exelon and Generation are exploring all options to return it to profitability. While a portion of the Byron nuclear plant’s capacity did not clear the PJM 2019-2020 planning year capacity auction, the plant is committed to run through May 2020. The Company’s other nuclear plants in PJM cleared in the auction, except Oyster Creek, which did not participate in the auction given Exelon's and Generation’s previous commitment to cease operation of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant by the end of 2019.

The following table provides the balance sheet amounts as of December 31, 2016 for significant assets and liabilities associated with TMI currently considered by management to be at the greatest risk of early retirement due to current economic valuations and other factors.



(in millions)	TMI
Asset Balances
Materials and supplies inventory	$	39
Nuclear fuel inventory, net	83
Completed plant, net	1,015
Construction work in progress	37

Liability Balances
Asset retirement obligation	(565		)

NRC License Renewal Term	2034

The precise timing of an early retirement date for any nuclear plant, and the resulting financial statement impacts, may be affected by a number of factors, including the status of potential regulatory or legislative solutions, results of any transmission system reliability study assessments, the nature of any co-owner requirements and stipulations, and decommissioning trust fund requirements, among other factors. However, the earliest retirement date for any plant would usually be the first year in which the unit does not have capacity or other obligations, where applicable, and just prior to its next scheduled nuclear refueling outage.