01 July 2009 -- Power generator Exelon Corp. said on June 30th that it has called off plans for now to build a new nuclear plant in Texas because of worries over the economy and the limited availability of federal loan guarantees.
The Chicago-based company, the largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., is the second company in the past two months to postpone work for a new nuclear plant. St. Louis-based AmerenUE said in April that it was suspending work on a reactor in Missouri.
AmerenUE pulled its project when legislators balked on changing a state law that blocks utilities from charging customers for certain costs of a new power plant before it starts producing electricity.
Making it harder on Exelon was that it did not make the initial cut for federal loan guarantees for the project.
The Energy Department announced in May that it has narrowed its list of the most likely recipients of $18.5 billion in government loan guarantees to four companies. Exelon has started a hostile takeover attempt of one of those companies, NRG Energy, which wants to build two new reactors at its Voglte power plant near Bay City, Texas.
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