REFORM, Mo. - Next month, Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center expects the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to make a final decision on the nuclear plant's application for a 20-year license renewal. If approved, the plant's operating license would be extended to 2044.
Just a couple weeks ago, the NRC resumed issuing license renewals to nuclear power plants after a two-year hiatus.
The Callaway plant's current operating license is set to expire in 2024. The nuclear facility, which first opened in 1984, submitted its application for a license renewal in December 2011. Sarah Kovaleski, director of engineering design, said the plant spent about three years preparing the application prior to submitting it.
"The license renewal process would give us another 20 years of plant operation and we are very excited about that prospect," Kovaleski said. "We feel that Callaway is a good asset to Mid-Missouri and we look forward to serving our community for an additional 20 years."
The Callaway plant produces about 20 percent of the electricity for Ameren Missouri's 1.2 million customers.
There are two parts to the plant's application - a technical portion and an environmental portion.
For the technical portion, the plant evaluated every piece of equipment on its property to determine how the equipment would age over time. It also has to ensure that programs are in place at the plant to monitor the equipment's aging.
"We protect the condition of the plant that way," Kovaleski said.
For the environmental portion, Ameren Missouri puts together documentation that includes the plant's impact on the local environment and economy. It also reviewed alternative means for producing power and provided both of those documents to the NRC.
The NRC publishes a final safety evaluation report and a supplemental environmental impact statement that includes the documentation of both the technical and environmental portions of the plant's application. The NRC made the safety evaluation report available earlier this year and the supplemental environmental impact statement was made publicly available Monday.
Also as part of the nuclear facility's application for a 20-year extension on its operating license, the NRC hosted public meetings in the spring to discuss the first draft of the plant's environmental impact statement. The NRC gave the public the opportunity to make comments, which would be taken into consideration when the NRC makes its final decision on the plant's license renewal.
The NRC's report found the 1,190-megawatt facility to be safe and further stated that the plant had a small environmental impact. In March, a statement from Missouri Coalition for the Environment labeled the report flawed and said it underestimated the risk of environmental damages.