CMHT Announces Federal Judge Rules Exelon Tritium Class Action Can Go Forward.

CHICAGO -- Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, PLLC announced today that Illinois Federal Judge Suzanne B. Conlon denied Exelon's motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit brought as a result of Exelon's spills of tritium-laced water into the local community in Will County, Illinois. The lawsuit, Duffin v. Exelon Corp., et al., will now proceed to the discovery phase where the plaintiffs will seek internal documents and additional evidence from Exelon relevant to the lawsuit. Other individual lawsuits filed against Exelon, which were recently consolidated with the class action lawsuit, were not affected by the ruling.

Exelon had argued that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs could not state a claim which would entitle them to recover any damages. The Court rejected this argument and held: "Viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the complaint states a claim because plaintiffs could prove a set of facts, consistent with the complaint, that entitles them to relief."

Cohen, Milstein's class action lawsuit, filed in March, 2006, alleges that Exelon spilled over six million gallons of tritium-laced water into the surrounding community from its Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant over a ten year period and failed to notify residents and regulatory officials.

On May 25, 2006, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) informed Exelon that after a preliminary investigation, the Agency had found "multiple failures" of Exelon's staff as a result of the spills which resulted in at least five violations of NRC regulations.

Exelon's own testing has confirmed elevated tritium levels in the groundwater and in private wells in the vicinity of the Braidwood plant. Tritium, a byproduct of nuclear generation, can increase the risk of cancer, birth defects and genetic damage.

Richard S. Lewis, a partner and an environmental legal expert with the Cohen, Milstein firm, explained that, "the court's well-reasoned decision allows this case to proceed. While there are still several legal hurdles we must face, we will now be able to examine Exelon's internal documents and see what they knew, when they knew it, and why they did not report it. The people in this community continue to believe that there is a large amount of information that Exelon has never released to the public about what really occurred."

Cohen, Milstein filed the class action lawsuit along with The McKeown Law Firm of Joliet, Illinois, and Williams, Cuker & Berezofsky of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A copy of the court's decision will be available at www.exelonclassaction.com or from [e-mail]. Media Inquiries: James Pizzirusso [phone] or [phone] at Cohen, Milstein.