In an open house presentation Thursday at Fulton City Hall, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff said that Ameren Missouri has given "reasonable assurance" that the effects of aging on non-safety-related structures, systems and components (SSCs) will be properly managed in the years leading to and during a 20-year renewal of the Callaway Energy Center.
That's good news for Ameren Missouri. The company has applied for a 20-year renewal of its nuclear reactor permit, set to expire Oct. 18, 2024; the investigation is one of several which the NRC will perform on the nuclear reactor as part of the approval process.
The terms of license renewal require plants to maintain the same level of regulatory oversight and plant-specific requirements, but adds additional aging management requirements for passive, long-lived SSCs such as pipes, valves, pumps and other components.
NRC Senior Reactor Inspector Greg Pick said that he and a team of about 20 other regional inspectors conducted their investigation to review the plant's new and existing aging management programs and processes used to determine which SSCs to monitor and why.