Here's a couple of things to keep in mind about power plants and water facilities. The cleaner and more powerful power plants (hydrogen, nuclear, solar) are more expensive to run per unit of power than the cheaper plants (coal, gas, oil). This means that for the same KWH you spend more. I don't have the stats in front of me so I can't get specific. In general though, building more gas plants to total the power output of one nuclear plant will be cheaper. Of course it will take up more space.
On the other hand the large water pump does cost less per unit of water than the small pump. However make sure you need that much water. It isn't financially sound until you are using it near capacity.
I find that the pollution of gas plants is manageable.
I believe that neighbor connections are a must for the nuclear plant. I think I earned a nuclear plant with one of the U-Drive-It missions.
