Exelon

Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) is an electricity generating and distributing company headquartered in the Chase Tower in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago. It was created in October, 2000 by the merger of PECO Energy Company and Unicom, of Philadelphia and Chicago respectively. Unicom owned Commonwealth Edison. Exelon has 5.4 million electricity customers and serves 485,000 natural gas customers in the Philadelphia suburbs. It is "the country's No. 2 nuclear company."

In October, 2009 Exelon had full or majority ownership of 17 nuclear reactors in 10 nuclear power plants

History

On June 30, 2005 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the merger of Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., a New Jersey utility. Under this merger, Exelon would have become the largest utility in the United States. The two companies later broke off the agreement due to pressure put on the NJ Board of Public Utilities by public interest groups, including New Jersey Citizen Action.The merger sat pending in front of the NJBPU for nineteen months before Exelon concluded that they were fighting a losing battle. On April 28, 2011 Exelon announced purchase of Constellation Energy.

Exelon facilities

Nuclear generation

Exelon is a leading nuclear power plant operator in the United States.

Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station (Illinois)

Byron Nuclear Generating Station (Illinois)

Clinton Nuclear Generating Station (Illinois)

Dresden Nuclear Power Plant (Illinois)

LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station (Illinois)

Limerick Nuclear Power Plant (Pennsylvania)

Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (New Jersey)

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station (Pennsylvania)

Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station (Illinois)

Salem Nuclear Power Plant (New Jersey) (minority owner)

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (Pennsylvania)

Zion Nuclear Power Station (Illinois) (reactors inactive)

Other Business Units

Exelon PowerLabs, LLC

Exelon PowerLabs, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Exelon Generation) operates at 4 locations nationwide. The Plattsburgh, NY and Madison, PA facilities specialize in Calibration; the Wilmington, IL facility specializes in Failure Analysis and Component Testing; while the Coatesville, PA location provides all services. The Quality System is ISO 9001:2000 Registered for both the Plattsburgh, NY and Coatesville, PA facilities. The Coatesville and Plattsburgh facilities are also ISO 17025 accredited through the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).

Exelon PowerLabs has been operating since 1911

Pollution, security and hiring incidents

In 2005, Exelon was required to pay a $602,000 fine for exceeding the permitted sulfur dioxide emission limit from April to October 2004 at its Cromby Generating Station in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Exelon and Illinois state officials waited for four years until 2006 before disclosing that Exelon's Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear plant 60 miles southeast of Chicago, had spilled millions of gallons of water containing tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, multiple times over a decade. Exelon officials eventually apologized and said the risks from the leak were “minimal”, with tritium levels in surrounding wells all found to be below regulatory limits.

In 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced its plan for a $65,000 fine against Exelon for permitting its contracted security guards that were guarding its Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station, a two-reactor nuclear plant located in Delta, Pennsylvania to sleep on the job. The incidents did not come to light until a videotape of the security guards was leaked to news media. As a result, Exelon terminated the security contract of the Wackenhut security firm that had been involved.

In 2010, an Exelon help wanted ad posted on CareerBuilder.com stated that "arrogant Americans" need not apply for a position that catered to Chinese customers. Employers in the United States cannot discriminate in hiring policies that violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination by employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The sentences in question of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 follow:

"Exelon is looking to provide these proposals to Chinese businesses, so someone who is respectful and understands Chinese culture is preferred. An arrogant American will not work well in this role,"

Exelon's actions in alleged Employment Discrimination is at odds with the company's CEO statement quoting:

"At Exelon, we believe that every individual has the potential to make outstanding contributions to our company regardless of their age, race, gender, color, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical abilities, veteran status or religion. The more diverse our workforce becomes, the greater the range of ideas that can be generated. - John W. Rowe Chairman & CEO"

The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), the federal enforcement agency tasked with ensuring compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is not investigating.

Exelon responded to the job ad controversy with the following statement:

“Exelon was surprised and very disappointed to see this job posting including this offensive and inappropriate language. This statement was not approved by Exelon and in no way reflects the company’s policies and values. We regret that this language appeared in recruiting materials that were prepared by a third party and not approved by Exelon. We apologize for this error and the offense it has caused. We are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again. Exelon is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion, and we make every effort to attract and retain talent of all backgrounds.