Lawmakers experience behind-the-scenes tour of Callaway Energy Center

Ameren Missouri hosts members of the Missouri General Assembly during nuclear power plant's refueling outage

During its latest refueling outage, members of the Missouri General Assembly went behind the scenes at the Callaway Energy Center to learn more about the plant and its role in Ameren Missouri's generation fleet. The only nuclear power plant in Missouri, the 1,284 MW-generating energy center was declared operational in 1984. Every 18 months, the nuclear plant undergoes a refueling outage, allowing crews to complete preventative and corrective maintenance on the reactor, refuel the unit and carry out other tasks intended to ensure the plant runs as efficiently as possible.

Travis Hart, senior director of nuclear operations at the Callaway Energy Center, explains the plant's refueling process to Sen. Jamie Burger during a tour of the building that holds the reactor core.

"The Callaway Energy Center is an impressive facility, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the plant and its operations," said Sen. Jamie Burger, R-Benton. "Ameren Missouri's nuclear power plant produces safe and reliable energy, and I am excited about the company's plans to build more nuclear generation in the future."

Throughout the refueling outage, operators replaced 80 of the 193 fuel assemblies in the reactor core. Each fuel assembly is an 8.5-inch-square bundle of 12-foot-long metal tubes containing ceramic pellets of uranium dioxide fuel. Additional work was performed during the outage to replace equipment at the energy center, including new pumps and cooler coils. Crews also ran reliability tests on the plant's equipment, searching for any potential issues. From a personnel perspective, approximately 800 supplemental workers joined the Callaway Energy Center's existing workforce of more than 740 employees to accomplish a wide range of tasks during the outage – providing valuable benefits to the Mid-Missouri economy.

The second largest power generator in Ameren Missouri's fleet, the Callaway Energy Center is a highly efficient, low-cost source of electricity for the company's 1.2 million customers. The power produced at the nuclear plant plays an important role in Ameren Missouri's ability to keep its electric rates well below the Midwest and national averages. For more information on the Callaway Energy Center, please visit ameren.com/missouri/company/environment-and-sustainability/nuclear.