[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 162 (Friday, December 16, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13775-S13776]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WORK OUTAGE AT CALLAWAY NUCLEAR PLANT

  Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, I rise to honor approximately 3,000 
permanent and supplemental workers, who recently set a new world time 
record while conducting a safe and successful work outage on AmerenUE's 
Callaway Nuclear Plant. The Callaway Plant is located in my home State 
of Missouri and provides permanent jobs to more than 1,000 people. 
Since 1984, Callaway has generated an average of 8.9 billion 
kilowatthours of electricity per year--equal to the amount used 
annually by more than 750,000 average households.
  The Callaway Plant is owned and operated by AmerenUE, a subsidiary of 
Ameren Corporation, which provides energy services to about 2.3 million 
electric customers in Missouri and Illinois. Callaway, along with 102 
other nuclear powerplants in the United States, is a critical component 
of our Nation's energy mix, providing low-cost, reliable, and clean 
energy from an abundant fuel source.
  Approximately every 18 months nuclear plants must be shut down for 
refueling, during which time the employees perform literally thousands 
of maintenance activities, modifications, and tests. In Callaway's 
case, the plant supplies nearly a quarter of Ameren's electricity 
production, thus it is critical that the work be done in a safe and 
timely manner so the plant can be brought back online as soon as 
possible.
  The recent Callaway Plant outage was the most complex in its history, 
as it included not only refueling and the usual maintenance activities, 
but also replacement of four massive steam generators, which measure 70 
feet tall and weigh 400 tons each, as well as main turbine rotors. The 
Callaway team set a new world record for such outages, accomplishing 
their work in 63 days and 13 hours, beating the previous record of 64 
days and 17 hours. The combination of the new generators and rotors are 
expected to add about 60 megawatts of additional generating capacity to 
the plant using the same amount of fuel.
  This summer Congress passed an energy bill, which recognizes the 
tremendous need for increasing our supply of clean energy while 
reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy. The high-quality 
work of the Callaway employees plays a major role in carrying out the 
objectives of this important legislation. By not only completing the 
outage in a safe and timely

[[Page S13776]]

manner, but also increasing its capacity to produce electricity, these 
workers are doing their part to meet Missouri's--and our Nation's--
growing energy needs.
  I offer my personal thanks and congratulations for a job well done to 
all of the dedicated employees and the temporary workers who, as a 
result of exceptional preparation, teamwork, and execution, 
successfully completed the most complex outage at Callaway Nuclear 
Plant.
  I congratulate the AmerenUE workers and their partners on their 
achievement. They have set a new standard of excellence in safety and 
performance and have helped advance the future of the nuclear power 
industry as a whole.

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