FirstEnergy's Beaver Valley Power Station Receives License Renewal from Nuclear Regulatory Commission

November 5, 2009

AKRON, Ohio, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), announced today that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved a 20-year license extension for the Beaver Valley Power Station Unit 1 and Unit 2 in Shippingport, Pa.

FENOC submitted a revised license renewal application to the NRC in 2007 for Unit 1 and Unit 2 to operate until 2036 and 2047, respectively. Unit 1's original license was set to expire in 2016 followed by Unit 2 in 2027.

"Today's NRC decision is an important milestone for FirstEnergy," said Anthony J. Alexander, president and chief executive officer of FirstEnergy. "I am very proud of our employees at Beaver Valley, who have not only maintained some of the highest safety and performance standards in the industry, but have worked to ensure that the plant remains a key asset to the company and the community for many years to come."

The license renewal was granted after the NRC thoroughly inspected and audited the plant's safety and environmental programs; heard detailed information from Beaver Valley representatives during five public meetings; and reviewed more than 3,000 pages of supporting documents. The NRC concluded there were no safety concerns that preclude license renewal.

"As a result of the license extension, the additional 20 years of operation means Beaver Valley will remain an important source of safe, reliable and clean electricity for the region while providing good paying jobs and financial support to the community," said Paul Harden, vice president of Beaver Valley.

Beaver Valley is capable of generating 1,815 megawatts (net), or enough electricity to power more than 1.4 million homes. In addition, plant operations avoid more than 12 tons of carbon dioxide gases annually, an amount equal to what would have been emitted by a similar-sized coal fired power plant.

The station is one of the largest taxpayers and employers in Beaver County. Annual property and payroll tax payments total $4 million, with some of the tax dollars supporting local schools and police and fire departments. The plant employs 950 highly trained professionals with an annual payroll of nearly $70 million. In addition, employees have contributed more than $1.2 million to local charitable organizations since 2001.

Beaver Valley Unit 1 and Unit 2 went into operation in 1976 and 1987, respectively. FENOC began operating the plant in 1999 after an asset transfer with Duquesne Light. Since that time, the company has invested more than $500 million to ensure continued safe and reliable operations including the replacement of Unit 1's reactor head and steam generators in 2006 and power output increases totaling 10 percent since 2002.

Beaver Valley is the 56th out of 104 nuclear reactors in the United State to receive a license extension from the NRC.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services. Its seven electric utility operating companies comprise the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system, based on 4.5 million customers served, within a 36,100-square-mile area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and its generation subsidiaries control more than 14,000 megawatts of capacity.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements based on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These statements include declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" and similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry and legislative and regulatory changes affecting how generation rates will be determined following the expiration of existing rate plans in Pennsylvania, the impact of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's regulatory process on the Ohio Companies associated with the distribution rate case, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices and availability, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated utilities to collect transition and other charges or to recover increased transmission costs, operating and maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes, revised environmental requirements, including possible greenhouse gas emission regulations, the potential impacts of the U.S. Court of Appeals' July 11, 2008 decision requiring revisions to the Clean Air Interstate Rules and the scope of any laws, rules or regulations that may ultimately take their place, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures needed to, among other things, implement the Air Quality Compliance Plan (including that such amounts could be higher than anticipated or that certain generating units may need to be shut down) or levels of emission reductions related to the Consent Decree resolving the New Source Review litigation or other similar potential regulatory initiatives or actions, adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes (including, but not limited to, the revocation of necessary licenses or operating permits and oversight) by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Metropolitan Edison Company's and Pennsylvania Electric Company's transmission service charge filings with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the continuing availability of generating units and their ability to operate at or near full capacity, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals (including employee workforce initiatives), the ability to improve electric commodity margins and to experience growth in the distribution business, the changing market conditions that could affect the value of assets held in FirstEnergy's nuclear decommissioning trusts, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause it to make additional contributions sooner, or in an amount that is larger than currently anticipated, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with FirstEnergy's financing plan and the cost of such capital, changes in general economic conditions affecting the company, the state of the capital and credit markets affecting the company, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect FirstEnergy's access to financing or its costs or increase its requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, letters of credit and other financial guarantees, the continuing decline of the national and regional economy and its impact on the company's major industrial and commercial customers, issues concerning the soundness of financial institutions and counterparties with which FirstEnergy does business, and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar factors. The foregoing review of factors should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy expressly disclaims any current intention to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.