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FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Employees Recognized with Electric Industry Training Award

^{Published on 2013-02-18 11:00:19 - Market Wire}
 

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Employees Recognized with Electric Industry Training Award -- AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) recently named a team of FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) employees as winners of an annual Technology Transfer award, recognizing successful research, development and implementation of technology solutions that benefit the electric power industry.

FENOC was the first company in the U.S. nuclear power industry to use a standardized process developed by EPRI to train and confirm workers' abilities to perform plant maintenance activities.  A key benefit of this process is that qualifications earned at one plant also are valid at other U.S. nuclear facilities, reducing the time and expenses associated with training workers.  The FENOC team applied the process when qualifying workers to safely perform heavy material movement using cranes inside the plant. 

Members of the award-winning FENOC team include: Tammie Nicoletti Bever of Beaver County, Pa., Tyrone Turner of Beaver County, Pa., and John Zanetta of Greentree Borough, Pa., all from the Beaver Valley Power Station; David Eldred of Oak Harbor, Ohio, and Michael Kaminski of Castalia, Ohio, from the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station; Robert Fundis of Austinburg, Ohio, and Paul Gant of Madison, Ohio, from the Perry Nuclear Power Plant; and Archie Proffit of Norton, Ohio, from FENOC fleet maintenance in Akron.

"I am very proud of our employees for implementing this beneficial process across our fleet and leading the way for others in the industry," said Pete Sena , FENOC President and Chief Nuclear Officer.  "Their efforts support continued safe performance at our facilities while promoting efficiency in the training and qualification process across the nuclear industry." 

"Continually seeking and implementing improved technology, methodology and processes reflects the nuclear industry's commitment to safe, reliable operations," said President of FirstEnergy Generation Jim Lash . "I commend our FENOC employees for their leadership, drive and commitment to excellence."

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: [ FE ]) is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio.  Its FENOC subsidiary also operates the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Pa., the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry, Ohio.  Visit FirstEnergy on the web at [ www.firstenergycorp.com ] or follow the company's nuclear plants on Twitter:   [ @BVPowerStation ], [ @DavisBesse ] and [ @Perry_Plant ].

About EPRI

The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI, [ www.epri.com ]) conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public.  An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, affordability, health, safety and the environment.  EPRI's members represent approximately 90 percent of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States, and international participation extends to more than 30 countries.  EPRI's principal offices and laboratories are located in Palo Alto, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Lenox, Mass.

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Actual results may differ materially due to: the speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry, the impact of the regulatory process on the pending matters before FERC and in the various states in which we do business including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, the uncertainties of various cost recovery and cost allocation issues resulting from ATSI's realignment into PJM, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, regulatory outcomes associated with Hurricane Sandy, changing energy, capacity and commodity market prices and availability, financial derivative reforms that could increase our liquidity needs and collateral costs, the continued ability of our regulated utilities to collect transition and other costs, operation and maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other legislative and regulatory changes, and revised environmental requirements, including possible GHG emission, water intake and coal combustion residual regulations, the potential impacts of CAIR, and any laws, rules or regulations that ultimately replace CAIR, and the effects of the EPA's MATS rules, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures that may arise in connection with any litigation, including NSR litigation or potential regulatory initiatives or rulemakings (including that such expenditures could result in our decision to deactivate or idle certain generating units), the uncertainties associated with our plans to deactivate our older unscrubbed regulated and competitive fossil units and our plans to change the operations of certain fossil plants, including the impact on vendor commitments, and the timing of those deactivations and operational changes as they relate to, among other things, the RMR arrangements and the reliability of the transmission grid, issues that could result from the NRC's review of the indications of cracking in the Davis Besse Plant shield building, adverse regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes with respect to our nuclear operations (including, but not limited to the revocation or non-renewal of necessary licenses, approvals or operating permits by the NRC or as a result of the incident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant), adverse legal decisions and outcomes related to ME's and PN's ability to recover certain transmission costs through their transmission service charge riders, the continuing availability of generating units, changes in their operational status and any related impacts on vendor commitments, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the ability to comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency mandates, changes in customers' demand for power, including but not limited to, changes resulting from the implementation of state and federal energy efficiency mandates, the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals, our ability to improve electric commodity margins and the impact of, among other factors, the increased cost of fuel and fuel transportation on such margins, the ability to experience growth in the Regulated Distribution and Competitive Energy Services segments, changing market conditions that could affect the measurement of liabilities and the value of assets held in our NDTs, pension trusts and other trust funds, and cause us and our subsidiaries to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated, the impact of changes to material accounting policies, the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our financing plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us and our subsidiaries, changes in general economic conditions affecting us and our subsidiaries, interest rates and any actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect us and our subsidiaries' access to financing, increased costs thereof, and increase requirements to post additional collateral to support outstanding commodity positions, LOCs and other financial guarantees, the state of the national and regional economy and its impact on our major industrial and commercial customers, issues concerning the soundness of domestic and foreign financial institutions and counterparties with which we do business, the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC 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, except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.