New sales, new worries With license extensions, nuclear power plants are now seen by buyers as profit centers. Six commercial nuclear reactors have been sold since mid-1999, and the sale of eight reactors is pending, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. The merger of several big utilities has consolidated ownership of commercial nuclear reactors. The marriage of Commonwealth Edison-Unicom in Illinois and PECO Energy Co. in Pennsylvania in October created Exelon Corp. and placed 17 reactors under one corporate roof. McNeill, of Exelon, said the consolidation is creating tremendous economies of scale that are bringing down operating costs.
Critics worry about a new rivalry between utilities that operate the plants.
The environmental group argues that a Feb. 3 electrical fire in the turbine room of San Onofre's Unit 3 reactor, which occurred as workers were re-starting the reactor after a routine refueling and maintenance outage, shows that the industry is not as reliable as advocates would like the public to believe. That comes at a rough time for the cash-strapped utility. Yet, those four nuclear reactors generate more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity, nearly 18 percent of the electricity generated in California. A third plant, Rancho Seco, near Sacramento, was shut down in 1989 when voters demanded its closure. Opponents said it was badly run.