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Unit 2 at PPL Corporation's Susquehanna nuclear power plant has produced power for 677 consecutive days - a full run between the last time the plant replenished its fuel in 2003 and today's start of the unit's biennial refueling and inspection outage.

Operators of the Luzerne County, Pa., plant safely shut down Unit 2 early this morning (2/26), marking the first time in the unit's 20-year history for continuous operation between refueling outages.

"This record puts Susquehanna among the best in the industry for reliability," said Lou Ramos, community relations manager for PPL Susquehanna. "Our ability to produce power with this type of reliability is the result of our focus on safety and equipment. This is evident by the generation records we've set in four of the past five years and now this continuous run record on Unit 2."

The record breaks Unit 2's previous record of 526 consecutive days set in 2002. The Unit 1 record of 426 days set in 1995 reflects the only other time in Susquehanna's history that a unit operated continuously between refueling outages.

"To produce more power safely and reliably, Susquehanna employees dedicated themselves to developing processes to reduce the frequency of unplanned shutdowns, increase the time between planned outages and reduce outage duration," Ramos said.

Since its last refueling and inspection outage two years ago, Unit 2 has generated about 18.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity - enough to power nearly 2 million homes in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

"While providing a reliable source of electricity is extremely important, we will always set safety as a higher priority than achieving a record," Ramos said.

During this year's planned refueling outage, employees will replenish about 40 percent of Unit 2's uranium fuel, which will allow it to operate continuously for 24 months before another refueling.

Employees also will conduct more than 2,000 inspections and perform routine maintenance on key equipment to ensure the safe, reliable operation of the plant. In addition, crews will upgrade the unit's two moisture separators, which remove moisture from steam passing through the turbines. The more efficient separators will increase the plant's generating capacity.

"We identify and plan outage work throughout the year so we are well- prepared to safely complete more than 8,000 activities in a controlled manner. Hundreds of Susquehanna employees and outside contractors ensure all critical equipment is in good working condition before we start the unit back up," Ramos said.

The outage is the 12th on Unit 2 since it began producing power in 1985. Susquehanna performed a similar refueling and inspection outage on Unit 1 last spring; it was the unit's 13th such outage since it began producing power in 1983. PPL Susquehanna LLC schedules these outages for the spring because the demand for electricity is lower then, compared to other times of the year.

The dual-unit Susquehanna plant, located about seven miles north of Berwick, Pa., is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna LLC and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.

PPL Susquehanna is one of PPL Corporation's generating facilities. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) controls more than 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to nearly five million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America. More information is available at http://www.pplweb.com/.

SOURCE: PPL Corporation

CONTACT: Joseph Scopelliti of PPL Corporation, +1-570-759-2285, or fax,
+1-610-774-5281

Web site: http://www.pplweb.com/