Exelon's Nuclear Uprate Program Remains on Track

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) (Chicago, Illinois) yesterday reported first-quarter 2011 net income of $778 million, up 17.5% from 1Q10. In a conference call regarding the earnings, Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe stated that Exelon was fully prepared for implementation of new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.) and would continue stay on the planned course for its nuclear uprate program.

"The EPA proposed the rules last month on air toxics and on 316(b). Both were proposed on time and in ways that were generally consistent with what we expected," said Rowe. "We remain confident that EPA will issue the final toxics rule and expect that rule to go into effect as planned, with compliancy in late 2014 or early 2015. There has been a lot of noise about these rules, and there will continue to be noise as people fight them. I don't think the noise will go away, but I don't expect Congress will do anything to change the rules.

"EPA is simply enforcing the requirements of the existing Clean Air Act as that act been interpreted by the courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. The last major amendments to that act are now over 20 years old. Neither the rules nor their implementation should be a surprise to anyone," said Rowe.

Stating that two-thirds of the U.S. coal-fired fleet had installed or was installing the controls necessary for compliance, Rowe said that power generation lost from retired coal-fired plants could be replaced by underutilized natural gas-fired plants.

"For Exelon's fossil units, the proposed rules have minimal impact. We have already made the decision to retire our Eddystone units 1 and 2, and Cromby station, with the first two of these units set to retire at the end of next month. We are evaluating compliance options at Eddystone 3 and 4, and Schuylkill oil peaker." All of these units are located in Pennsylvania.

Discussing the incidents in Japan, Rowe said that it is clear that the incidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will have implications for the U.S. nuclear sector, but what these implications will be remains unclear. Rowe said that the brunt of regulatory investigations would probably involve spent fuel pools, containment structures and emergency plans in the event of the loss of power, but that there seems no immediate implications for nuclear license renewal.

"Until we have a better picture of how things may change, we have not modified our uprate plans. So far in 2011, we have spent $65 million of the $450 million capital expenditure program planned for this year. ... We received NRC approval earlier this month for 32 megawatts of uprate at Limerick, which we will bring online this year. We will continue to evaluate the power uprate program as we go, but at this point, it is too early to make any changes."

Industrial Info is tracking $2.8 billion in active Exelon projects, including $1.5 billion in planned nuclear uprate projects. Information on these and other nuclear, fossil and renewable power projects can be found in Industrial Info's North American Power Industry Database.

View Project Report - 12004309 12003962 300018724 300018854 300019002

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.