Plant continues long-standing record of safety and reliability

DALLAS – Twenty-five years ago, the first of two units at Luminant’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant began supplying power to the state’s electric grid. That day – Aug. 13, 1990 – was the culmination of a long journey through construction and commissioning, and the beginning of a growing history of milestones and memories.

Now, more than 422 million megawatt-hours later, the plant continues its long-standing record of safety, reliability and operational excellence.

“For 25 years, the people who work at Comanche Peak have carried through on their commitment to the people of Texas to provide reliable, clean power while keeping safety as the highest priority,” said Mac McFarland, CEO of Luminant. “Their standard of excellence is what has made Comanche Peak one of the best nuclear plants in the country.”

Comanche Peak sits on 10,000 acres between Glen Rose and Granbury, about 45 miles southwest of Fort Worth. Since 1990, it has contributed more than $1 billion to neighboring communities through tax payments, payrolls, purchases and other expenditures. During construction and commissioning of the two units, the plant provided more than 10,000 jobs; currently, about 1,300 people are needed to support units 1 and 2. More than 200 of these current employees were there the day Comanche Peak synced to the ERCOT grid.

“I was the shift operations manager at the time,” said Rafael Flores, chief nuclear officer for Luminant. “Looking back, the number of people who have played a role in the success of our plant is mind boggling – from those who designed it up to everyone who is here today. All along the way, it’s been the quality of our people who have made the difference.”

Comanche Peak has become much more than a source of dependable electricity; its employees have established a legacy of generosity as dependable volunteers and donors of both money and time. From educational partnerships with the local school districts to donations of funds and expertise to local emergency preparedness activities, and active participation in community organizations, Comanche Peak is a vital part of Hood and Somervell counties.

The two-unit nuclear plant has a capacity of 2,300 MW — enough to power about 1.15 million homes in normal conditions and 460,000 homes in periods of peak demand.

From colossal construction to dinosaur discoveries, massive megawatts to powerful pellets, be sure to check out our blog for more on the plant’s 25^th anniversary and 25 things you might not know about Comanche Peak.

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 About Luminant

Luminant, a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corp., is a competitive power generation business, including mining, wholesale marketing and trading, and development operations. Luminant has more than 13,700 megawatts of generation in Texas, including 2,300 MW fueled by nuclear power and 8,000 MW fueled by coal. The company is a large purchaser of wind-generated electricity. EFH is a Dallas-based energy holding company that has a portfolio of competitive and regulated energy subsidiaries in Texas. Visit luminant.com, energyfutureholdings.com or our corporate blog pov.energyfutureholdings.com for additional information.

Media:
Meranda Cohn
214-875-8004
media.relations@luminant.com

Helping meet the needs of Texas' growing population and economy, Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 2 began commercial operations on Aug. 3, 1993, and since then, has generated more than 180 million net megawatt-hours of electricity. Located in Somervell County, the Luminant plant and its employees have also powered the surrounding communities through more than $1 billion in tax revenue and volunteered tens of thousands of hours in support of area organizations.

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Luminant today released the following statement regarding its combined operating license application for Comanche Peak Units 3 & 4.

The ongoing incidents in Japan represent a tragic event, and we continue to monitor developments there. We extend our deepest sympathies to the Japanese people.

We remain committed to pursuing the development of two new units at Comanche Peak. We will work in close concert with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and industry groups to incorporate lessons learned from the events in Japan into the ongoing process of designing, licensing and building of our proposed units. The process is lengthy, measured, highly regulated and takes input from all major stakeholders to ensure the safety of the nation's nuclear fleet.

The fundamentals of nuclear power in the United States are unchanged – clean, reliable sources of baseload generation are critical to meeting growing electric demands throughout the country. We have confidence in the design and planning process that keeps America's nuclear reactors safe and will actively participate with the U.S. NRC and others as we review what has occurred.

For more information about the project, please visit http://www.expandcomanchepeak.com/.

Comanche Peak 3 & 4 Facts

•  Safety Focus: Safety continues to be the top priority of both the existing and proposed new units. We constantly review our safety procedures.
•  Expansion Overview: Two proposed units of 1,700 MW each; 3,400 MW of new generation would power approximately 1.8 million Texas homes.
•  Different, Advanced Design: Luminant and Mitsubishi are developing the U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor with enhanced safety systems and other advanced elements. Existing Comanche Peak units also use pressured water reactor technology, which is a fundamentally different design than boiling water reactors like those experiencing issues in Japan.
• Development Timeline: Luminant submitted its Combined Operating License Application in September, 2008. Our current schedule calls for receiving a license at the end of 2013 – with commercial operation dates of 2021/2022.
• Dependable Power: Texas needs additional sources of baseload power due to strong population and electric demand growth. Texas continues to set new electric demand records.
• Economic Development: More than $22 billion in Texas economic impact - including increased retail sales, personal income and gross state product.
• Thousands of New Jobs: In addition to thousands of construction jobs, the new units would create about 1,000 new, on-site jobs. Economic development modeling shows the project can be expected to create a total of 6,200 Texas jobs.
• Increased State Revenue: State tax revenue is projected to increase by more than $490 million during development and construction – by more than $30 million annually once the plant is operational.

About Luminant

Luminant, a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corp., is a competitive power generation business, including mining, wholesale marketing and trading, and development operations. Luminant has more than 15,400 megawatts of generation in Texas, including 2,300 MW fueled by nuclear power and 8,000 MW fueled by coal. The company is also the largest purchaser of wind-generated electricity in Texas and fifth largest in the United States. EFH is a Dallas-based energy holding company that has a portfolio of competitive and regulated energy subsidiaries, primarily in Texas. Visit www.luminant.com or www.energyfutureholdings.com for additional information.

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The Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Company is encouraged by the recent House of Representatives vote to add $7 billion in nuclear loan guarantee authorization for new nuclear plants. A 38% increase in loan authorization authority is good news for U.S. initiatives to develop and build new nuclear power plants. Right now, we are focused on the license application process for the new units that will take several more years. This new proposed increase makes us optimistic that sufficient authorization will continue to be increased as it is needed.

The proposed expansion of Comanche Peak would be the largest private economic development program in Texas history - adding thousands of jobs and providing safe, clean, dependable energy for the future. For additional information about the project, please visit http://www.expandcomanchepeak.com/.