Commitments and Contingencies (Lease Commitments) (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							1 Months Ended				12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2008	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2011 Maximum Range [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Minimum Range [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Third Party and Equity Method Investee	Dec. 31, 2011 Third Party and Equity Method Investee Through 2019 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Virginia Power [Member]	Oct. 31, 2008 Virginia Power [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Spent Nuclear Fuel	Dec. 31, 2011 Spent Nuclear Fuel Kewaunee Power Station	Dec. 31, 2011 Spent Nuclear Fuel Property Plant and Equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Spent Nuclear Fuel Depreciaiton Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Spent Nuclear Fuel Operations and Maintance Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Surry And North Anna [Member] Spent Nuclear Fuel
Other receivables		$ 255,000,000	$ 88,000,000								$ 64,000,000
Daily Civil Penalties For Non Compliance		37,500
Loss Due To Plant Balances Not Expected To Be Recovered									228,000,000
Capital And Operating Lease Obligations Due Current		155,000,000	171,000,000	172,000,000
Rental expense		155,000,000	171,000,000	172,000,000
Maximum remaining cumulative exposure							49,000,000	123,000,000
Annual future contributions					19,000,000	4,000,000
Workforce reduction expenditure		109,000,000
Loss Due To Plant Balances Not Expected To Be Recovered Net Of Tax									139,000,000
Gain (Loss) Related to Litigation Settlement													24,000,000	17,000,000	7,000,000
Litigation Settlement, Gross	155,000,000									112,000,000						155,000,000
Settlement payment												$ 21,000,000