Contact: Mike Cleary
573-681-7137
AmerenUE’s Callaway Nuclear Plant, located near Fulton, Mo., returned to service today after shutting down Friday, March 9, due to a chemistry problem in a non-radioactive water system. The plant began generating electricity again at 2:03 p.m. today.
Operators had shut the plant down when instruments detected elevated levels of sodium in the system that supplies water to the steam generators that produce steam for generating electricity. The source of the sodium was found to be a condenser tube leak that was allowing processed Missouri River water from the cooling tower to get into the steam generators, which require water that is much more highly-treated. After repairs, inspections and tests were completed, operators began the restart process Monday afternoon, March 12.
AmerenUE officials said the incident never presented any safety hazard to the plant or the public, but key federal, state and local officials were notified in keeping with plant procedures.
The 1,190 megawatt Callaway Plant was AmerenUE’s second-largest power producer in 2006. The plant’s gross generation of more than 10.5 million megawatt-hours was a new record for the plant, and ranked eighth highest in the U.S. and 21st highest in the world.
AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation. The Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
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