The Shoreham saga

On Sept. 21, William J. Catacosinos, chairman and chief executive officer of the Long Island Lighting Co., addressed a ballroom full of Wall Street stock analysts in a hotel in downtown New York City. A 20-year effort by his company to build and license an 820-megawatt nuclear power plant on Long Island's north shore had pushed the utility into financial straits, bringing it within 48 hours of filing for bankruptcy on one occasion. The Shoreham nuclear power station, the main source of Long Island I Lighting's troubles, had been completed but was inactive, 65 miles east of the city, as Catacosinos addressed the analysts.