PAINESVILLE, Ohio, Posted 5:46 p.m. September 3, 1999 -- Stricter regulations and expensive back-up systems have many power companies opting to shut down their nuclear power plants. But greater efficiency is keeping Perry Nuclear Plant powered up.

"I don't know what the full impact of a major nuclear disaster would be, but we're close enough that whatever would happen would be a major catastrophe," Bruce Hurd, a nearby resident to the power plant tells NewsChannel5.

But after catastrophes in Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, fear of nuclear power forced the industry to accept the strictest safety regulations in the country.

"We have a full staff that work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on a daily basis. They keep track of regulations and make sure we're on target with updating our regulations," says Todd Schnieder of FirstEnergy.

But according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the cost of those redundant safety regulations is making nuclear power too expensive to produce.

"I think there's a point where the redundancy is too much. Where the bureaucracy is too much, and it doesn't make it cost feasible," explains Tim Rausch of FirstEnergy.

One example is back-up power.

WEWS reports if the power supply were to fail, one locomotive generator can power the plant. But by law Perry's required to have three backup engines.

Since Three Mile Island, 13 nuclear plants have shut down. But Perry's managers say they've survived by radically streamlining their operations. However, the future of nuclear power depends increasingly on how much peace of mind people will sacrifice to pay for its benefits.

The Perry nuclear plant supplies nearly 30 percent of the power needed in Northeast Ohio.