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Title: Detroit Edison's Fermi 2 Power Plant to Shut Down for Planned Outage

NEWPORT, Mich., March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Detroit Edison's Fermi 2 power plant will shut down Saturday for a planned refueling and maintenance outage which will include work to enhance plant performance and safety, capping a record-setting 317 days of continuous operation.

During the outage -- scheduled for 35 days -- workers will replace the plant's high-pressure turbine, replace about one third of the plant's fuel, perform maintenance on several safety systems and conduct hundreds of tests.

An extensively-planned outage is performed every 18 months to refuel nuclear power plants. The outage also is used as an opportunity to complete equipment maintenance tasks, testing and modifications -- work that will enhance plant performance and safety.

About 2,000 separate tasks will be performed by employees and contractors during the refueling outage. "By industry standards, the 35-day outage schedule is aggressive," said Douglas R. Gipson, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Generation. "We're confident we can meet that goal because of the thorough planning, extensive preparation and commitment of our employees."

Replacement of the high-pressure turbine -- at a cost of $12 million to $15 million -- will result in an additional 40 megawatts of electrical output.

That additional power will help Detroit Edison meet the electrical demands of its customers with cost effective generation.

Other work planned for the outage includes:

* Upgrades to the emergency equipment cooling water system. * Upgrades to two of four emergency diesel generators. * Improvements to the recirculation and reactor feedwater systems. * Inspection or testing of more than 600 valves, pipes and other components.

The plant's regular work force of nearly 1,000 employees will be supplemented during the outage with another 1,000 contract workers. "An outage like this is a major effort for our company and Fermi 2 employees," Mr. Gipson said, "but we tackle it enthusiastically because it's an important part of our continuous effort to operate the plant safely and efficiently."

SOURCE Detroit Edison

Web Site: http://www.DTEEnergy.com

)1996-1999 PR Newswire.

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 31, 2000