World's Leading Nuclear Operators Collaborate in an Effort to
                Extend the Lifetime of Power Plants

HILLSBORO, Ore., March 3, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FEI Company
(Nasdaq:FEIC), a leading diversified scientific instruments company
providing electron and ion-beam microscopes and tools for nanoscale
applications across many industries, announces the completion of a
multiple system installation at the Materials Ageing Institute (MAI) in
France, a utility-oriented research center financed by
Electricité de France (EDF), the Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO), the Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) and the US Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI).

The MAI microscopy laboratory has now commissioned its new FEI
Titan(TM) Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (S/TEM) microscope,
the most powerful commercially-available microscope in the world. The
Titan joins the MAI's FEI Tecnai(TM) S/TEM, Helios DualBeam(TM) and
Quanta(TM) 600 Field Emission Gun (FEG) in one of the world's premier
microscopy facilities, where they will be used to study the ageing of
materials to improve the reliability and safety, and extend the
lifetimes, of nuclear and non-nuclear power plants.

"The Titan's ability to resolve atomic detail is absolutely essential
to our work," said Laurent Legras, head of the MAI MET laboratory.
"Many of the earliest and most fundamental steps of the ageing process
are only visible at the atomic level. With the Titan, we can compare
real materials to our computer simulations to verify our understanding
of the ageing mechanisms and processes specific to nuclear power
generation. We can also study chemical bonding, oxidation, corrosion,
and other processes that apply more broadly to most types of power
generation. This combination of operational experience, experimental
knowledge, and computer modeling of coupled processes then allows us to
anticipate ageing and increase the durability of the materials,
components and structures used in power plants."

Tony Edwards, FEI's senior vice president, market divisions, said, "FEI
shares a long history with EDF, the French nuclear giant that played a
key role in the development and construction of the MAI. This is an
outstanding example of how imaging and characterization at the atomic
scale can enable advances in energy technologies. The ability to
characterize, and even manipulate, materials at atomic scale provides
critical insights into valuable new technologies and permits continual
improvements to those already in use. We are pleased that the Titan and
other FEI microscopes are now generating crucial data for this
important work."

The Tecnai S/TEM is used for routine investigations of structure and
composition. The Helios DualBeam combines scanning electron microscope
(SEM) imaging and focused ion beam (FIB) milling to allow
high-resolution imaging and analysis of three-dimensional structures
and subsurface defects. The Quanta 600 FEG permits SEM examination of
samples under a wide variety of vacuum and environmental conditions,
including dynamic observations of oxidation, corrosion, and other
chemical and physical ageing processes.

Please see www.fei.com or http://themai.org for more information about
FEI or the MAI.

About FEI

FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC) is a leading diversified scientific instruments
company. It is a premier provider of electron and ion-beam microscopes
and tools for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial
and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data
storage, natural resources and more. With a 60-year history of
technological innovation and leadership, FEI has set the performance
standard in transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron
microscopes (SEM) and DualBeams(TM), which combine a SEM with a focused
ion beam (FIB). FEI's imaging systems provide 3D characterization,
analysis and modification/prototyping with resolutions down to the
sub-Angström (one-tenth of a nanometer) level. FEI's NanoPorts in
North America, Europe and Asia provide centers of technical excellence
where its world-class community of customers and specialists
collaborate. FEI has approximately 1800 employees and sales and service
operations in more than 50 countries around the world. More information
can be found at: www.fei.com.

The FEI Company logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6379

FEI Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements that include
statements regarding the performance capabilities and benefits of the
Titan S/TEM. Factors that could affect these forward-looking statements
include but are not limited to failure of the product or technology to
perform as expected and achieve anticipated results, unexpected
technology problems and our ability to manufacture, ship and deliver
the tools as expected. Please also refer to our Form 10-K, Forms 10-Q,
Forms 8-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission for additional information on these factors and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements. FEI assumes no duty to update
forward-looking statements.


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