Brush Wellman Receives $7.0 Million Beryllium Order for European Fusion Power Facility

The order, which calls for delivery of 4.4 metric tons ofberyllium beginning late the third quarter of 2006 and expected to becompleted in the first half of 2007, came from the European FusionDevelopment Agreement, the agency that provides funding to JET. Theberyllium will be used for inner wall plasma facing components thatwill line the inside of the reactor as part of a major recommissioningproject to prepare JET for fusion reaction testing. An earliergeneration of beryllium replacement tiles, also from Brush Wellmanmaterials, serviced the reactor beginning in the late 1980's.

"The decision to involve Brush in the JET experiment once againplaces our team and our materials at the forefront of a leading,global technology project," said Richard J. Hipple, President, ChiefExecutive Officer and Chairman of Brush Engineered Materials Inc., theparent company of Brush Wellman Inc. "Importantly, fusion power couldcontribute to the world's clean electrical power needs of the future."

"The beryllium specified for the JET application is our highpurity S65 grade material," said Michael (Mike) D. Anderson, Presidentof Beryllium Products. "Its properties are particularly well suitedfor the intense conditions inside the reactor. Representatives of ourElmore, Ohio manufacturing facility have been working closely with JETscientists in the United Kingdom and we are prepared to beginproduction of the material immediately."

JET produces a 100,000,000 degrees C reaction by fusing deuteriumand tritium in an intense magnetic field. The reactor is a precursorfor a planned larger, even more sophisticated facility called ITER,which is scheduled to be built in France. It is hoped that ITER willprovide critical data to support the technological feasibility of afull-scale fusion power plant in 30 to 50 years.

Scientists see fusion as a practical source of future power needsdue to its low production of nuclear waste and high amount of energyproduced. Since no actual combustion occurs during the reaction,fusion will not produce air pollution. Also, deuterium, one of thefuel sources, can be extracted from seawater, while tritium can beproduced in the fusion reactor itself from lithium, which is found inthe earth's crust.

Beryllium and beryllium containing materials from Brush Wellmanare widely used in mission-critical commercial, aerospace, engineeringand research applications that demand superior levels of productstrength, reliability, miniaturization, reflectivity and weightsavings.

Brush Wellman, the world's only fully integrated producer ofberyllium, beryllium-containing alloys and beryllia ceramic, is awholly-owned subsidiary of Brush Engineered Materials Inc. (NYSE:BW).Brush Engineered Materials, commemorating its 75th year in 2006, isheadquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The Company, through itswholly-owned subsidiaries, supplies worldwide markets with berylliumproducts, alloy products, electronic products, precious metalproducts, and engineered material systems.