Nuclear utilities beg for bailouts to avert reactor shutdowns -- Obama administration appears amenable
February 7, 2014 In a pair of articles, E&E's Hannah Northey reports that nuclear utility giants such as Exelon and Entergy are lobbying hard for changes to electricity marketplace rules that would enable them to keep uncompetitive atomic reactors operating. For its part, the Obama Dept. of Energy appears poised to do all it can to prop up its favorite dirty, dangerous, and expensive energy industry.
Exelon owns 4 GE BWR Mark Is in IL, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. They are Dresden Units 2 & 3, and Quad Cities Units 1 & 2. In addition, Exelon owns and operates LaSalle Units 1 & 2 in IL, very similarly designed Mark IIs.
Exelon owns several additional Mark Is and IIs in other states, after its merger with Philadelphia Electric Power Company (PECO) and Constellation: Mark Is at Nine Mile Point Unit 1, NY, as well as Peach Bottom Units 2 & 3, PA; and Mark IIs at Limerick Units 1 & 2, PA, as well as Nine Mile Point Unit 2, NY.
Thus, Exelon owns 12 of the 31 Mark Is/IIs in the U.S.
For its part, Entergy owns several Mark Is: Vermont Yankee (slated to be permanently shutdown by the end of 2014, Entergy announced in August 2013); Pilgrim in Plymouth, MA near Boston and Cape Cod; and FitzPatrick in Upstate NY on the Lake Ontario shore. Entergy also operates the Cooper Mark I on behalf of its owner, Nebraska Public Power District.