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Bond In Investing Savings Executives from Exelon Corp. and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. said Tuesday that their creation of the country's biggest utility will help three troubled nuclear power plants in southern New Jersey run more smoothly. But critics of the plants said they have no faith such a massive company would spur any improvements.

As the article points out, there are plants that are aging and will need to be replaced if we are to continue to utilize this proven technology. Nuclear plants have operated safely and cleanly with a sound environmental record. We should consider not only replacing plants but increasing the percentage of electricity generated, by building additional nuclear capacity.

Bond Investment Toledo Toledo A day earlier, Chicago-based Exelon announced it would acquire Newark, N.J.-based PSEG in a $12 billion stock deal the companies said will create cost savings and better service. They expect it will take until early 2006 to complete the deal.

Eventually, the case was won and the floating power plant plan was finally abandoned. Had all this not happened, there would now be another, even closer, nuclear power plant to be concerned about in our area. And incidentally, one of our many points of objection made to the NRC a generation ago was the vulnerability of the proposed nuclear power plant to terrorist attack. John Williamson Linwood, NJ

James Bond Trading Card The new company would have 18 million customers in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, assets worth $79 billion, annual revenues of $27 billion and yearly profits of $3.2 billion. The current combined work force of 28,500 would be trimmed by about 1,400 jobs.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency said Thursday that it will give potassium iodide to states that want to stockpile the medicine in case of an attack against a nuclear power plant. The drug has been shown to protect the body's thyroid gland if taken soon after radiation exposure. Rep. Edward J. Markey ( Mass.), who has long criticized what he terms inadequate safety provisions at nuclear power plants, is among several lawmakers who have urged stricter security measures at the plants since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Nuclear plants, which rank among the nation's most closely guarded facilities, are of particular concern because an attack could spew radioactive contamination over an area covering hundreds of square miles.

Bond In Investing Stock But the deal would not change plans for any of New Jersey's four nuclear power plants, all of which would be owned and operated by the new company. Of those facilities, the Oyster Creek plant in Ocean County already is owned and operated by an Exelon subsidiary. In Salem County, the Salem I and II plants are co-owned by Exelon and PSEG and operated by PSEG; the Hope Creek plant is owned and operated by PSEG.

The regulatory commission said it had earmarked $800, 000 to buy potassium iodide supplies for people living within about 10 miles of a nuclear plant. The United States has 103 nuclear power plants. "The commission has found that potassium iodide is a reasonable, prudent and inexpensive supplement to evacuation and sheltering for specific local conditions, " a statement said. The drug will be given to states that request it within 30 days, according to the commission.

Municipal Bonds Investment Making the three plants on Salem County's Artificial Island more efficient will be a boon for both stockholders and energy customers, company officials said during a news conference.

The state also has made doses of the drug available to residents living within 10 miles of a nuclear plant. Cape May County is located about 50 miles from Salem Nuclear Generating Station's three plants. The state is not stockpiling the drug for this region, and county officials aren't planning to either. as well as the limited shelf life make stockpiling ineffective.

Bond Terms Trading "The biggest benefit is the effect good operations at Salem and Hope Creek has on wholesale prices," said John W. Rowe, the chairman and CEO of Exelon, who would have the same job in the new company.

Bond Debt High In Inside Electricity generated at the plants is sent to a regional energy pool, rather than being transmitted straight to homes and businesses.

Bond Greenville Greenville The nuclear power business is a target of critics who say the industry needs big subsidies to be profitable and holds a danger of disaster if things go wrong. The companies' plans did little to quell those worries.

Trading Stock And Bonds Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey office, said having bigger companies with higher profit expectations could make plants more dangerous.

Bond Investing Municipal "I just don't know what's going to happen when you create these large, behemoth companies," Tittel said.

Basis Bond Finance Hill Activists have called for Exelon to shutter the relatively small Oyster Creek plant when its license expires in 2009. Company officials reaffirmed on Tuesday they do not plan on doing so.

Bond Explained Terms Trading That's not a good sign for Norm Cohen, the coordinator of Unplug Salem, a group that wants the three Salem County reactors shut down permanently. Cohen said continuing to operate that plant shows Exelon cares more about profits than safety.

Bond Business Investing Stock "While they supposedly have a better safety record than PSEG, everybody can have a better safety record than PSEG," Cohen said.

Bond Houston Houston Hope Creek, meanwhile, has been shut down since a steam pipe there ruptured on Oct. 10.

Stock Bonds Day Trading Some anti-nuclear power activists have said the company should make another significant repair there by replacing a recirculation pump with a bent rod before the plant restarts.

Bond Corporate Investing PSEG officials have said they would wait until the next regularly scheduled outage at Hope Creek in the summer of 2006 to make the repair.

Investment Bond Uk The merger does not change that, said E. James Ferland, the president and CEO of PSEG who would become the chairman of the board of the new Exelon Electric and Gas firm.

Bond Trading Strategy Ferland said Exelon has had a role at PSEG's three New Jersey nuclear plants since they opened in the 1970s and 1980s and has taken a more active role this year. The analysis that determined Hope Creek would be safe to operate another 18 months with the old recirculation pump is largely the work of Exelon, Ferland said.

Bond Fixed In Income Investing Ferland said Hope Creek should be ready to be restarted by the end of the year. The company, though, has agreed to wait until after meeting with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission before restarting the plant. That meeting has not been scheduled.

Bond Dayton Dayton Investment At the Hope Creek and Salem I and II plants, PSEG has been trying to fix what it calls a "safety culture" problem brought to light in part by whistle blowers who have complained that the plants have not been as safe as they should be.

Bond Management Market Risk Recent changes to operations there include an expanded office for dealing with employee safety concerns and a campaign that has placed safety-related posters all over the facility.

Bond In Investing Municipal Ferland said the Exelon acquisition will mean smoother operations at the plants because Exelon already runs 17 nuclear plants at 10 sites and has a strong standard operating procedure for the plants.

Bond Investment Las Las North "It's like a cookbook: This is how we run our plants," Ferland said.

Future Bond Trading System For the Sierra Club's Tittel, that's part of the problem.

Bond In Investing Junk "Exelon has already been a partner in the Salem nuclear plants and there have been more problems since they became a partner," Tittel said.

Bond Investment Orlando Associated Press - 12/22/2004

Topic: Nuclear

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