Construction remains on track at Missouri's Callaway nuclear plant to complete an underground spent fuel storage facility in January.
In an update Friday, Holtec International said the storage site will begin operating in June of next year following an initial dry run. Callaway's used fuel assemblies currently reside in the reactor's spent fuel pool. As with all U.S. nuclear plants, though, Callaway has had to plan for longer-term dry storage in the absence of a federal repository.
The new independent spent fuel storage installation will differ from those at most other plants in that it will house the material below ground. Holtec developed the HI-STORM UMAX system after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Waste containers will be lowered into cavities within a 25-foot-thick block of concrete resistant to fire, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The company installed a similar facility at Pacific Gas & Electric's decommissioned Humboldt Bay nuclear plant in California.
Callaway, operated by a subsidiary of Ameren, is located in central Missouri and came into service in the mid-1980s. The plant generates 1,190 megawatts using a single Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactor.