N.J. Stat. § 48:9A-10: Negotiations with provisionally qualified projects.

5. a. Following a board order granting provisional qualification status to a proposed project, the board and the authority shall enter into negotiations with any provisionally qualified project concerning the RCC price and schedule, any real estate terms, agreements on supply chain guarantees, and any other terms and conditions the board and the authority deem necessary based on the information provided in the expression of interest. The board and the authority may request and consider any additional information they find necessary in connection with their evaluation and negotiations. Throughout the negotiation process, the authority and the board shall consult with the Department of Environmental Protection and other State agencies with applicable expertise. The Division of Rate Counsel, in, but not of, the Department of the Treasury, shall have, with respect to this section and sections 6 and 7 of this act, the right to receive all filings and submissions made to the board or the authority, to submit written comments and evidence, and to petition the board for reconsideration of any final board order.

b. Board staff, the authority’s chief executive officer, and a provisionally qualified project shall enter into a stipulation formalizing all terms agreed upon as a result of negotiations. The stipulation shall include, but need not be limited to, the following terms:

(1) the target commercial operation date;

(2) the verified construction cost estimate, which shall be a Class II cost estimate. The verified total construction cost estimate shall be memorialized in any final board order issued pursuant to section 6 of this act and shall serve as the baseline against which cost overruns are measured for purposes of allocating non-performance costs to the project;

(3) the RCC value and payment schedule, including budgeted risk and contingency value that is designed to reflect the unique risks associated with the development, construction, and operation of a nuclear generating facility;

(4) the percentage of the revenues from the qualified project’s sale of energy, capacity, or ancillary services in PJM during the RCC term to be returned to New Jersey ratepayers;

(5) critical project development milestones, the timeline for their achievement, and the consequences of failure to meet the milestones;

(6) ongoing project reporting requirements;

(7) a requirement that no RCC payment shall be made until the qualified project is generating electricity and transmitting it to the electric grid;

(8) the amount of nuclear energy that the qualified project shall make available to the PJM Reliability Pricing Model capacity market, Fixed Resource Requirement, or any other procurement program operated by PJM, as appropriate;

(9) the amount that the project entity shall reimburse the authority and the board for all reasonable costs incurred in reviewing the project, including consulting fees;

(10) the percentage of new, unanticipated tax credits or governmental benefits that the qualified project entity shall pass along to ratepayers. A qualified project entity may retain new, unanticipated tax credits or other governmental benefits in order to recover its administrative costs related to the qualified project. In addition to the amount of new, unanticipated tax credits or other governmental benefits the qualified project entity retains to cover administrative costs, the qualified project entity may retain up to the lesser of 10 percent, or a different percentage, as negotiated in the stipulation, of any new, unanticipated tax credits or governmental benefits the qualified project entity receives, so long as the amount does not exceed an absolute cap on the allowable retention amount, as also negotiated in the stipulation;

(11) an agreement that the qualified project entity shall implement all reasonable wildlife protection measures necessary to sustain the health and population of wildlife species present in and around the facility site, pursuant to all applicable State and federal requirements; and

(12) an agreement that the qualified project entity shall conduct ongoing community outreach and public education regarding nuclear energy during construction and development of the project and throughout the facility’s operating life.

c. Once a stipulation is completed, the stipulation, including all terms, will be made public and the public shall have 30 days to submit comments on the stipulation. During the public comment period, the board shall conduct a public hearing in the municipality that the provisionally qualified project is located.

d. Within 30 days of the close of the public comment period, board staff and the authority’s chief executive officer shall review all public comments and discuss potential amendments to the stipulation with the parties where appropriate.

e. A stipulation entered into pursuant to this section shall represent the recommended terms of agreement among board staff, the authority’s chief executive officer, and a provisionally qualified project entity but shall not become effective or binding upon the qualified project entity, the State, or any other party unless and until the board issues a final order approving the stipulation pursuant to section 6 of this act.

f. Neither board staff nor the chief executive officer of the authority shall be required to obtain prior approval from the board members or from the authority’s board of directors to enter into a stipulation under this section. The stipulation, along with a cost benefit analysis of the stipulation, shall be presented to the board, together with the board staff’s and the authority’s chief executive officer’s recommendations, for the board’s consideration.

g. If board staff, the authority’s chief executive officer, and a provisionally qualified project entity do not enter into a stipulation within 12 months of the grant of provisional qualification status, that status shall automatically lapse and the project shall cease to be a provisionally qualified project, unless board staff, the authority’s chief executive officer, and the project entity consent in writing to extend the negotiating period for one or more additional periods of not more than six months each.

h. Notwithstanding any procurement threshold established under R.S.52:25-23, any circular issued pursuant thereto by the Division of Purchase and Property in the Department of the Treasury, or any board-specific procurement threshold, the board or the authority may engage consulting services on a non-advertised basis using the procedures authorized by R.S.52:25-23 and set forth by the Director of the Division of Purchase and Property in Circular No. 26-02-DPP to assist in carrying out its duties under this act. Any such engagement shall not be applied against the board’s or the authority’s delegated procurement authority threshold. The requirements of subsection a. of section 1 of P.L.2005, c.92 (C.52:34-13.2) shall not apply to any consulting engagement entered into under this section, provided that any such engagement shall comply with all applicable federal export control laws, rules, and regulations.

L.2026, c.42, s.5.