Indiana Michigan Power : COOK NUCLEAR PLANT UNIT 2 COMPLETES REFUELING OUTAGE

BRIDGMAN, Mich., January 3, 2017 - Indiana Michigan Power's Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 2 completed its refueling at 7:20 p.m. yesterday and is back in service and connected to the transmission grid. The outage lasted 89 days. In addition to refueling the reactor and performing regular maintenance and testing work, the outage was extended due to the replacement of the main turbine and the inspection and replacement of baffle bolts, which support internal components of the reactor vessel.

Replacement of the high-pressure turbine and all three low-pressure turbines is the largest of Cook's Life Cycle Management (LCM) projects. The $250 million turbine replacement has been in the planning for more than five years and it was known that it would extend this outage. LCM includes 114 upgrade and replacement projects as part of the 20-year operating license extension granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2005.

The baffle bolt inspections were previously planned for 2019 but were moved forward based on industry initiatives following the discovery of degraded baffle bolts at two plants this spring. Ultrasonic inspection was performed on all 832 bolts and 201 bolts were replaced. Based on the inspections, AEP determined there was no impact on the safety of Unit 2 during the previous cycle of operation.

'Thanks to all our employees and local and regional craft workers for their safe and hard work during this longer than usual outage,' said Joel Gebbie, Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer. 'We also appreciate the support of our families and the community as we work to secure the long-term viability and reliability of our plant.'

Additional baffle bolt inspections and replacements, and a potential design change to minimize stress on baffle bolts, may also take place in subsequent outages for both Cook units.

About 2,000 contracted workers supplemented the regular 1,200-person plant staff during the outage.

At full capacity, the 1,030-net MW Unit 1 and 1,077-net MW Unit 2 combined produce enough electricity for more than one and one half million average homes.

Indiana Michigan Power is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP).

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Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) is headquartered in Fort Wayne, and its 2,450 employees serve more than 589,000 customers. It operates 2,600 MW of coal-fired generation in Indiana, 2,160 MW of nuclear generation in Michigan and 22 MW of hydro generation in both states. The company's generation portfolio also includes 450 MW of purchased wind generation and, by the end of 2016, approximately 15 MW of large-scale solar generation.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP also operates 223,000 miles of distribution lines. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning approximately 31,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP's utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

Bill Schalk
Communications Manager - Cook Nuclear Plant
Work - 269.466.2854
Cell - 269.235.1772
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