Callaway County Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann was appointed Monday to a Local Government Task Force to help Westinghouse Electric Co. win a federal grant to manufacture small modular nuclear reactors in Callaway County.
"We want Westinghouse," Jungermann said, "to choose Callaway County to manufacture the new small modular nuclear reactors. We have an existing nuclear reactor in this county and strong technical support in this area with the University of Missouri in nearby Columbia and the Missouri University of Science and Technology just down the road at Rolla. We can provide the workforce and everything else needed to build the new small modular nuclear reactors."
Gov. Jay Nixon appointed Jungermann and presiding commissioners from five other Central Missouri counties to the local government task force.
Other Central Missouri members of the task force include presiding commissioners Marc Ellinger of Cole County, Dave Dudenhoeffer of Osage County, Randy Verkamp of Phelps County and Dan Atwill of Boone County. Atwill was named as the chairman of the task force.
The appointments were made during an economic development summit Monday at the University of Missouri. Also attending the nuclear development summit were senior executives of Westinghouse, Ameren Missouri officials and representatives from all of Missouri's electric power providers, including private and public utilities.