BRACEVILLE, Ill. (April 21, 2008) - Braidwood Generating Station Operators safely shut down Unit 2 at 11 p.m. Sunday to begin a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.

During the shutdown workers will perform more than 11,000 inspections and maintenance activities on a variety of plant components and systems. This includes replacing about one-third of the reactor’s fuel. Many of the activities performed during the shutdown cannot be performed while the unit is running and all are designed to ensure the safe and reliable production of electricity through the 18-month operating cycle.

To support this effort the station will use the skills and expertise of more than 1,700 additional workers. These men and women are professionals from other Exelon sites, local union halls, travelers from outside the Will County area and specialized vendors. They all provide a temporary benefit to the local economy.

“Our team at Braidwood has worked very hard preparing for this outage,” said Site Vice President Bryan Hanson. “We have a large scope of work to complete during the outage and our main goal is to perform that work in a safe manner so we can return the unit to its next 18-month operating cycle.”

Braidwood Unit 1 will continue to supply electricity during the Unit 2 shutdown.

Braidwood Generating Station is approximately 60 miles southwest of Chicago. The station’s two nuclear energy units can produce a total of more than 2,300 megawatts at full power - enough electricity to power more than two million homes.