Also, anyone who suffered a loss from that incident can also call AmerenUE Community Relations Manager Otie Cowan at 314-554-4740 or dial 1-800-552-7583 ext 44740.
"Ameren is concerned about the community in and around the plant and wants to be as responsive as possible to their needs," says Ameren Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Rainwater.
On Dec. 14 the Taum Sauk Plant upper reservoir experienced a rupture in the northwest corner causing water to flow downward, flooding the Johnson Shut-ins and resulting in the closing of Route N. More than two dozen senior AmerenUE managers, engineers and specialists are at the scene, responding to the incident.
Built in 1963, AmerenUE's Taum Sauk is a "pumped-storage" hydroelectric plant. It stores water from the Black River in the upper reservoir, built atop 1,590- foot-high Proffit Mountain, and releases the water to generate electricity when power is needed. The plant employs 12. All are accounted for and uninjured.
The water flows down a mile-long tunnel inside the mountain, turning turbine- generators to produce electricity. When power demand is low, the same turbines run in reverse to pump water back to the upper reservoir.
AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation. Ameren companies serve 2.3 million electric customers and 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
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