U.S. Unit of ABB to Participate in Research Grants Under U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Initiative.

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 27, 1999--

A U.S. unit of ABB will participate in three of the first grants to be awarded under the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy Research Initiative.

The grants support projects aimed at substantially reducing the capital costs of future nuclear plants.

ABB Combustion Engineering Nuclear Power (ABB CENP) will act as project manager for a grant that covers the development of a scientific, risk-informed approach for simplifying new nuclear plant designs by using risk analysis tools. These analysis tools, including probabilistic risk assessment, would be eventually used to identify, modify or eliminate current nuclear industry standards and regulatory requirements that do not significantly contribute to reliability and safety. By reducing unnecessary standards and regulations, capital costs of new nuclear plants could be lowered to a level that would assure their economic competitiveness in the deregulated U.S. power market.

The research project team consists of ABB CENP, Sandia National Laboratory, Idaho National Engineering & Environmental Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, Duke Engineering & Services and Egan and Associates.

ABB CENP will participate as a subcontractor for two additional grants: "The Development of Advanced Technologies to Reduce Design, Fabrication and Construction Costs for Future Nuclear Plants" (Duke Engineering & Services, project manager); and "Smart Equipment and Systems to Improve Reliability and Safety in Future Nuclear Plant Operations" (Sandia National Laboratory, project manager).

The Nuclear Energy Research Initiative, which aims to reduce barriers to long-term use of nuclear energy, is the centerpiece of a revived nuclear energy research and development effort at the Federal level. -0-

ABB CENP, a unit of ABB, is a leading supplier of nuclear power plants, systems, components, field services, retrofits and nuclear fuel.

ABB, with U.S. headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., serves customers in power generation, transmission, and distribution; automation; oil, gas, and petrochemicals; industrial products and contracting; and financial services. ABB had U.S. orders of approximately $6.1 billion in 1998 and employed about 20,000 at manufacturing and other facilities in 41 states (http://www.abb.com/usa). Worldwide, ABB Group reported orders of $31 billion in 1998 and employed about 200,000 people in more than 100 countries(http://www.abb.com/).