The nuclear power plant in Fulton has been granted an extension to provide a power generator in case of an "external" disaster.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended Callaway Energy Center's deadline to fulfill requirements under an order released in 2012 to all power reactor licensees after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
In the NRC order, plants are required to have a portable generator to power spent fuel pool (SFP) instrumentation to read water levels - a part of the order the NRC recently extended for Callaway as written in a letter from the NRC.
"As Callaway's mitigation strategies will not be fully implemented until then (spring 2016), the capability to use a portable generator to power the SFP level monitoring system cannot be reasonably assured until that time," the NRC letter states.
The NRC defines spent nuclear fuel as "bundles of uranium pellets encased in metal rods that have been used to power a nuclear reactor." According to the NRC, reactor sites have at least one spent fuel pool, which stores fuel after it has been removed from the reactor. The pools "contain an enormous quantity of water, which acts to cool the fuel and provide radiation shielding."
Barry Cox, senior director of nuclear operations for Ameren Missouri Callaway Energy Center, said the extension has no effect on current plant operations and Callaway will meet the end date. He added Callaway already has an on-site generator and this new one will be another on plant grounds.
If an "external event" or natural disaster like a large-scale earthquake or tornado were to happen at Callaway, a power source could be necessary to keep the SFP instrumentation working in order to measure the water above spent nuclear fuel assemblies.
The energy center was originally scheduled to be in compliance by fall of this year, according to John Boska with the NRC. He added that Callaway is "95 percent" in compliance currently and will be in full compliance after fulfilling the areas in which it has requested extension.
Cox also said Callaway is on schedule to complete construction of an on-site building to store a portable generator by the end of 2014.