NEI Nuclear Notes

Rebecca Kern Last week, the University of Missouri School of Journalism held a workshop for journalists on nuclear energy . Also included as part of the program was a tour of the Callaway Energy Center operated by Ameren Missouri . One of the reporters on the tour, Bloomberg's Rebecca Kern , took photos of the plant and shared them via Storify . We've embedded her narrative below. Please check it out. [ View the story "Tour of Callaway Nuclear Plant " on Storify ]

Tom Kauffman The following is a guest post written by NEI's Tom Kauffman. Though Tom now works in NEI's media relations shop, he spent 23 years working at Three Mile Island , seven of those as a licensed reactor operator.  Ameren 's Callaway Energy Center in Missouri is in a "coastdown." No, it's not rolling to a stop like a skateboard that's missing its rider, it's actually running low on fuel - exactly as planned. Nuclear plant operators shut down their units to refuel the reactor (aka refueling outage) and do a lot of maintenance work every sixteen to twenty-four months depending on the unit's operating cycle. The Callaway reactor is on a year and-a-half operating cycle. The uranium fuel in about a third of the fuel assemblies in the nuclear reactor has been used so those fuel assemblies will be removed for storage . The fuel assemblies have been in the reactor for a few cycles of operation and are now located toward the center of t...

Vying for federal funds to support a potential small reactor demonstration project in the state, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) joined more than 20 business leaders, utility executives and state politicians Monday to reinforce his support for the project. Speaking from the University of Missouri campus, Gov. Nixon said that the potential project by Westinghouse Electric Co. and Ameren Missouri could “spark a new global industry” and be “transformational” for the Show-Me State. PoliticMo has the highlights from the press conference: “The returns of this industry are potentially tremendous,” Nixon said, noting impact on the construction, restaurant, and transportation infrastructure in the state. “When it comes to creating jobs, transforming our economy and building our future, projects just don’t get any bigger than this.” Nixon said public sector funds — including over $450 million available from the federal government — will help get the emerging industry off the ground, a...

Ameren Missouri and Westinghouse Electric Co. last week revealed a new partnership to compete for federal funds to develop and license a small reactor at the Callaway nuclear plant site in Missouri. The joint collaboration has the potential to open the doors for nuclear energy to play a more prominent role in the Midwestern state’s energy portfolio—a move that is being met with increasing enthusiasm by local leaders. Given the previous challenges to new nuclear plant development in the state, it is exciting to see several notable people and institutions come forward to voice their support. Below is a sampling of some of the positive coverage we have come across so far. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on the day of the announcement: Designing, developing and commercializing next-generation nuclear technology will create good jobs for Missourians, expand our global exports, and ensure that Missouri has affordable, abundant, safe and reliable power for generations to come.  Miss...

From the Associated Press : Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and energy officials are to announce plans Thursday that could include the development of another nuclear reactor in the state. The Democratic governor's office called the plans significant for energy development and economic growth in Missouri. Nixon and officials from Ameren Missouri and Westinghouse Electric are scheduled to make the formal announcement Thursday afternoon at the Missouri Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City. A Nixon spokesman declined to provide further details Wednesday before the planned announcement. We'll keep an eye on this today. UPDATE : Hold on a second. Ameren just pushed out the following press release clarifying the situation about today's announcement : Recent press reports speculating that Ameren Missouri and Westinghouse Electric Company will be announcing a definitive plan to build a new nuclear reactor at Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center site are inaccurate. Details surro...