Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I am Corbin A. McNeill, Jr., and I am the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of PECO Energy Company of Philadelphia. PECO Energy currently owns and/or operates 6 nuclear reactors at three sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. PECO's AmerGen partnership with British Energy owns and operates two reactors and has agreements in place to acquire two additional units. Finally, PECO and Unicom Corporation, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison Company, have announced our intention to merge later this year. Once final regulatory approval is received from a myriad of federal and state agencies, our combined company — to be called Exelon Corporation — will own and/or operate 20 of the nation's 103 operating nuclear reactors.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current challenges facing nuclear energy and the role nuclear energy can play as part of the nation's long-term National Energy Policy.

As the electric utility industry is deregulated, it will be critically important to have a comprehensive and up to date National Energy Policy in place. Only such a plan will guarantee that policy makers will have the information necessary to make sound decisions for assuring a safe, clean, reliable and economic supply of energy for the future.