Nov 13, 2007 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- GE | charts |...

Nov 13, 2007 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- GE | charts | news | PowerRating -- November 13, 2007 (FinancialWire) Exelon Corp.'s (NYSE: EXC | charts | news | PowerRating) nuclear unit has chosen a design by GE Hitachi, which is a joint venture between General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE | charts | news | PowerRating) and Hitachi, for a proposed two-reactor plant in Texas.

Exelon said it picked the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor technology, a design that operates by relying more on gravity and convection to operate safety systems than the large numbers of pumps and valves used in existing nuclear plants and Dominion (NYSE: D | charts | news | PowerRating) and Entergy (NYSE: ETR | charts | news | PowerRating) have also selected the same technology.

Exelon said it plans to file an application with federal regulators to build and operate the plant in November 2008, possibly becoming the second company to consider Texas' deregulated market for new nuclear construction.

ESBWR is one of the two designs sponsored by NuStart, an industry consortium, and the Department of Energy. Exelon said it will rely on NuStart for the generic portion of its application to be filed in a year.

In Texas, Exelon owns 2,500 megawatts of natural gas-fired generation within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, much of which runs only during times of heavy demand. The company is also studying construction of new gas-fired generation in north Texas