The Callaway Nuclear Power Plant located on a 5,228-acre (21 km²) site in Callaway County, Missouri, near Fulton, Missouri. It began operating on December 19, 1984. The plant, which is the state's only commercial nuclear unit, has one 1,190-megawatt Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactor and a General Electric turbine-generator. It is owned by the Ameren Corporation and operated by Ameren Missouri.

Power Output

According to Ameren, Callaway Nuclear Power Plant produces about 19 percent of Ameren Missouri's power. In 2001, Callaway set a plant record for capacity utilization, producing 101.1 percent of its rated electrical output, ranking it among the world's top reactors, according to the Energy Information Administration. The plant produces 1,190 megawatts of net power, and has run continuously for over 500 days between refuelings. Callaway is one of 26 nuclear power plants in the United States to achieve a continuous run of over 500 days.

On November 19, 2005, its workers completed the replacement of all four steam generators in 63 days, 13 hours, setting a world record for a four-loop plant.

Cooling Tower

The cooling tower at Callaway Nuclear Power Plant is 553 feet tall, 77 feet shorter than the St Louis Gateway Arch. It is 430 feet wide at the base, and is constructed from reinforced concrete. It cools approximately 585,000 gallons of water per minute when the plant is operating at full capacity, and about 15,000 gallons of water are lost out the top from evaporation. Another 5,000 gallons of water are sent to the Missouri River as "blowdown" to flush solids from the cooling tower basin. All water lost through evaporation or blowdown is replaced with water from the river, located five miles from the plant. The temperature of the water going into the cooling tower is 125° Fahrenheit, and the tower cools it to 95°.

Unit 2

On July 28, 2008, Ameren Missouri submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) for a potential second unit. According to Thomas R. Voss, president and chief executive officer of Ameren Missouri, "Given projections for a nearly 30 percent increase in demand for power in Missouri in the next two decades, we believe we will need to build a large generating plant to be on line in the 2018–2020 timeframe." Ameren Missouri is considering building a 1,600-MW Areva Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR).

In April 2009, Ameren Missouri canceled plans to build a second reactor at its mid-Missouri nuclear power plant. A key stumbling block was a law barring utilities from charging customers the costs of a new power plant before it starts producing electricity. The new nuclear plant would have cost at least $6 billion.

Callaway Nuclear Power Plant
Country	United States
Locale	Auxvasse Township, Callaway County, near Steedman, Missouri
Status	Operational
Commission date	December 19, 1984
Licence expiration	October 18, 2024
Operator(s)	Ameren Missouri
Architect(s)	Bechtel Corporation
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,190 MW
Reactors planned	1 x 1,600 MW
Reactor type(s)	pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s)	Westinghouse (Unit 1)
Power station information
Generation units	1 General Electric
Power generation information
Annual generation	9,372 GW·h