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Union Electric Company d/b/a Amerenue; Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Callaway Plant Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant By letter dated July 28, 2008, as supplemented by letters dated September 24, 2008, November 14, 2008, and November 25, 2008, Union Electric Company d/b/a AmerenUE (AmerenUE), submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined license (COL) for a single unit of the U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) in accordance with the requirements contained in 10 CFR Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This reactor will be identified as Callaway Plant Unit 2 and is to be located at the current Callaway County, Missouri site of the Callaway Power Plant. A notice of receipt and availability of this application was previously published in the Federal Register (73 FR 59677) on October 9, 2008, as corrected in Federal Register (73 FR 61444 on October 16, 2008).

Currently, the Callaway Nuclear Plant in Callaway County, MO is planning to build another nuclear unit. Nuclear power is a source of energy that has gotten a bad reputation in the Untied States. Incidents, such as Chernobyl, have scared the American public and have given Nuclear a bad connotation. Plants that are being built now are nothing like the one at Chernobyl. They have mechanisms that make it nearly impossible for a melt down ever to occur. The safety requirements created by the NRC have made nuclear plants safe in regards to radiation. Pilots receive more radiation than nuclear plant workers per year. Knowing this, and living in a country that is so dependent on fossil fuels made us very excited to see the potential for more energy to come from nuclear. Although, we support the additional reactor at Callaway, we think that the proposed plan has higher environmental cost than it needs to.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to participate in a hearing on a Combined License (COL) application for a new nuclear reactor at the Callaway site near Fulton, Mo. AmerenUE submitted the COL application and associated information July 24, 2008, and updated the application on Sept. 24, 2008, and Nov. 14, 2008. AmerenUE seeks approval to build and operate an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the site, approximately 10 miles southeast of Fulton. The NRC is currently reviewing the EPR for possible certification. The Callaway application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/callaway.html.

Entergy Operations, Inc.; Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for a Combined License On July 28, 2008, as supplemented by letter dated September 24, 2008, Union Electric Company d/b/a AmerenUE, filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) pursuant to Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' an application for a combined license (COL) for an evolutionary power reactor (US EPR) nuclear power plant at the existing Callaway Power Plant site located in Callaway County, Missouri. The reactor is to be identified as Callaway Plant Unit 2.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the combined license (COL) application for an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the Callaway site near Fulton, Mo. Ameren submitted the application and associated information July 28. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/callaway.html. Ameren is seeking approval to build and operate an EPR at the site, approximately 10 miles southeast of Fulton. The EPR is an Areva-designed pressurized water reactor, with a nominal output of approximately 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Areva filed its application Dec. 11, 2007, to certify the design. A version of the EPR is currently under construction at the Olkiluoto site in Finland and at Flamanville, France. The EPR application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/epr.html.

Union Electric Company d/b/a AmerenUE, Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for a Combined License; Correction AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of receipt and availability; Correction. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This document corrects a notice appearing in the Federal Register on October 9, 2008 (65 FR 59677), that notices the receipt and availability of an application for a combined license for an evolutionary power reactor nuclear power plant at the existing Callaway Power Plant site located in Callaway County, Missouri. This action is necessary to correct the heading of the document.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available to the public the combined license (COL) application for a new reactor at the Callaway site near Fulton, Mo. The applicant, Ameren, submitted the application and associated information July 28. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/callaway.html. The Ameren application seeks approval to build and operate an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the site, approximately 10 miles southeast of Fulton. The EPR is an Areva-designed pressurized water reactor, with a nominal output of approximately 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Areva filed its application Dec. 11, 2007, to certify the design. A version of the EPR is currently under construction at the Olkiluoto site in Finland and at Flamanville, France. The EPR application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/epr.html.

AmerenUE has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend its review of the company's July 2008 application for a combined construction permit-operating license to build a new nuclear unit at its Callaway plant in Missouri. In a June 23 letter to NRC released on Friday, Adam Heflin, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, said "we have determined that it is in AmerenUE's best interests to suspend the review" of the COL application and requested "that the NRC staff suspend all activities" related to the review. AmerenUE announced in April that it was dropping plans to build a 1,600-MW Areva US-EPR reactor at Callaway because the company did not think Missouri state lawmakers would be able to overturn the state's ban on recovering costs on construction work in progress. AmerenUE spokesman Mike Cleary said June 26 that NRC's review of the COL continued after that decision while AmerenUE "looked at its options," but it is now deemed "prudent" to suspend the review.

Fulton - Hundreds of supporters and opponents packed a Westminster College auditorium Wednesday night for the first public glimpse of a proposed second nuclear reactor at AmerenUE's Callaway plant. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission hosted the session, which the agency called a public outreach forum, not a formal hearing.

ST. LOUIS | Union Electric Co. withdrew plans for a second nuclear reactor in Callaway County in October 1982, but a new generation of executives is back 25 years later with plans for another plant. The St. Louis-based utility, now called AmerenUE, and its partner, Baltimore-based UniStar Nuclear LLC, will seek a construction and operating license as soon as next month for a $6 billion, 1,600-megawatt plant next to the existing Callaway nuclear plant.

AmerenUE's plan to build a second nuclear power plant in Callaway County may be in jeopardy. But if so, it won't have been CWIP that killed it. CWIP, of course, stands for construction work in progress. It refers to a state law that prohibits utilities from passing along costs of building new power plants until they start generating electricity. AmerenUE spent much of the last year, including the first four months of the Missouri Legislature's session, arguing that building a second nuclear plant in Callaway County - estimated to cost $9 billion - would be too expensive without up-front financing from ratepayers.

We'll soon see how much Missourians want a new nuclear power plant. A Missouri utility wants to build a second nuclear plant in Callaway County - if ratepayers will pony up before the plant opens. But that is against the law in Missouri, where utilities are prohibited from charging ratepayers for plants that have not been built.

A former AmerenUE engineer is accusing the utility and the federal agency that regulates nuclear power of failing to adequately investigate a 2003 incident that led to a two-hour unplanned shutdown at the Callaway reactor. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigation found that control room operators delayed a move to insert control rods - equipment required to keep the reactor shut down - since the error occurred just before a scheduled shutdown for maintenance. The NRC called the delay "not prudent," but noted it did not threaten human safety. After discovering the problem four years after it occurred during a routine review and alerting plant managers, nuclear engineer Lawrence Criscione claimed retaliation by his supervisors, including a negative performance review and the loss of his operators' license. Criscione was paid more than $500,000 in a confidential settlement in exchange for his resignation in 2008 and an agreement to not pursue any future legal claims against the St. Louis-based utility, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

A special investigation is underway to find the reason behind the failure of a piece of a safety system last month at the Callaway Nuclear Plant. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Monday that a team of inspectors is looking into a problem that was found with a secondary feedwater pump at the plant May 25 that has raised concern about that backup safety precaution. "In routine testing that pump didn't start automatically, but we did determine that it could have been started manually," Ameren UE spokesman Mike Cleary said. "It was technically inoperable and we don't know when it failed between the previous test on May 4 and May 25.

A Missouri utility said Thursday that it was suspending its efforts to build a new nuclear reactor, making its proposed plant, Callaway 2, the first of the "nuclear renaissance" reactors to fall by the wayside. The industry has been looking forward to its first construction start in 30 years. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 17 companies have filed applications to build 26 reactors.

Call it the alphabet soup rule. You can tell how important an issue is in the Legislature by how many groups with long acronyms line up behind it or against it. In the battle over AmerenUE's attempt to change Missouri law so that it can charge consumers higher rates while building its proposed nuclear plant in Callaway County, the first salvo was fired by MEDA, or the Missouri Energy Development Association. The group represents most of the state's utilities, and, of course, it's in favor of the plant. MEDA's Warren Wood makes the bill sound like it's pro-consumer, pro-environment.

If you follow the Missouri legislature this year, you're going to hear a lot about Senate Bill 228 . The bill, introduced today by Lowry City Republican Delbert Scott, addresses CWIP - Construction Work in Progress - the law that prevents utilities from charging customers for power not yet being generated. AmerenUE, the utility serving much of eastern Missouri, says the rule must be rolled back for it to build Callaway 2, a new nuclear reactor in Central Missouri.

The 2009 legislative session will address the need for more base-load electricity generation in Missouri. Ameren Corp. serves 1.2 million Missouri electric customers representing nearly 50% of Missouri's total consumption. They expect demand to increase 30% by 2020. Ameren is seeking the necessary licenses and funding to construct a second nuclear unit at their existing Callaway nuclear facility near Fulton, MO. Some changes to Missouri laws regulating electric utilities may be needed in order for Ameren or any utility to finance new base-load plants.

The design for AmerenUE's proposed second nuclear plant in Missouri isn't that different from its existing plant, officials from the utility say. AmerenUE submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in late July for a license to build and operate the proposed plant, which would be built next to its existing plant in Callaway County.

Customers and shareholders of AmerenUE do not stand to benefit from the proposed second nuclear reactor at Callaway County. The cost is estimated at $6 billion to $11 billion. Customers will have to pay if the Construction Work in Progress law is repealed by the Missouri Legislature in 2009. Taxpaying customers will have to pay through federal subsidies (which the next administration may or may not favor). Shareholders, who probably also would be customers, are paying for Ameren's lobbying efforts and will be the primary payers if the law is not repealed.