A spokesman for St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. yesterday squelched rumors that the company has decided to build a second reactor unit at its nuclear facility outside Fulton.

"We have made no decision to build a second unit, official or unofficial," Mike Cleary said. "All we are doing is some preliminary action we feel is prudent to do at this time to be eligible for special federal tax incentives under the 2005 federal Energy Policy Act."

Speculation has swirled, for example, that Mertens Construction Co. of Kingdom City had been given a contract to begin site preparation for a second unit.

President Doug Mertens said this morning that the company did get a recent contract from Ameren, but it’s to line a ditch with rock from its limestone quarries for a new pipeline to the Missouri River.

"It’s a replacement pipe for Plant 1," he said. "I suppose it could be used for a Plant 2 as well."

In December 2005, Ameren CEO Gary Rainwater told participants at a local economic conference that the St. Louis-based utility was "seriously considering" a second nuclear power unit at the site of its 1,200-megawatt plant in Callaway County.

Rainwater’s remarks thrilled economic boosters who cheered a $2 billion project that would take some 2,000 construction workers about five years to build and require an ongoing staff of about 300 to operate. At the same time, the possibility of another reactor energized nuclear opponents, who criticized the idea and vowed to fight it.

Even though Ameren has taken steps toward building a second unit, management is torn between using nuclear or coal, which now is used to generate more than 80 percent of the company’s electricity, to meet its need for a new base load power plant by 2018, Cleary said.

"Coal and nuclear are the two main options right now," he said. "Cost, reliability, environmental concerns and safety are just some of a number of factors we will consider before we make a decision."

Meanwhile, the company has taken the first step in a federal licensing process.

In June, Tim Herrmann, the utility’s vice president of nuclear engineering management, submitted a "Notification of Site Selection" to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to advise the government agency that it intended to apply for a Combined Operating License Application, or COLA, next summer and had chosen the Callaway site if a decision is made to build the second unit.

The federal regulatory process could take several years and cost up to $100 million to complete, Cleary said. Hearings on an application to get a permit to build a second unit would not begin for another four years, according to the NRC Web site.

Cleary said yesterday that a second unit likely would be built to the northwest of the existing plant, but he added that the notice with the NRC "doesn’t prevent us from looking at other sites."

"There are certain steps we have had to take to preserve the option, but we can make the decision later," he said.

In April, Ameren hired UniStar Nuclear of Annapolis, Md., to prepare a license application - expected to be filed next summer - for a 1,600-megawatt reactor. The company also has a contract with France’s Areva ANP to reserve 44 alloy-steel forgings for a reactor pressure vessel and four steam generators, which Cleary said simply gives Ameren a "place in line" to get the components in time.

Other utilities nationwide also are planning a new generation of nuclear plants. Although no company has committed to building a new nuclear plant, the NRC expects to receive applications for a score of new reactors, including a second unit at Callaway, in the next two years, spokesman Scott Burnell said.

Advertisement