April 17, 2005

WATERFORD, Conn. – Dominion ended an Alert at Millstone Power Station Unit 3 at 7:05 p.m. Sunday. An investigation into the cause of the event continues.

Dominion declared an Alert, the second lowest of four emergency classifications used by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at 8:42 a.m. Sunday after Unit 3 automatically shutdown because of indications of low steam pressure in the secondary piping system. The secondary piping system moves steam from the steam generator to the turbine.

While a large release of steam from the secondary piping system occurred at the station, no one was injured and no release of radioactive material occurred beyond those small releases associated with normal station operations. Federal, state and local emergency response agencies were notified.

Millstone Unit 3, a 1,150-megawatt pressurized water reactor, had been operating for 344 days continuously. The unit will remain shut down during the investigation. No decision has been made on when the unit will be restarted. Millstone Unit 2, an 870-megawatt unit, is being refueled and is not operating. Millstone Unit 1 is being decommissioned.

The event Sunday began when Unit 3 shut down automatically at 8:29 a.m. The cause of the shutdown is not known at this time.

Alan Price, site vice president-Millstone, said the company would investigate all aspects of the event and report those findings to the NRC.

"Our operations personnel responded to the event quickly and effectively as they are trained to do, and they brought the unit to shutdown in a safe and orderly manner," said Price.

No release of radioactive material occurred during the event beyond those small releases associated with normal station operations. These minor releases pose no danger to the public or station workers and are below federally approved operating limits, below natural background levels and cannot be detected at the site boundary.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with an energy portfolio of about 28,100 megawatts of generation, about 6 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves and 7,900 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline. Dominion also operates the nation's largest underground natural gas storage system with more than 965 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in nine states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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