By Meria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Ameren UE announced Thursday that it plans to file an application with the federal government for a new nuclear plant.
A company spokesman downplayed the news saying Ameren has not made a decision whether to build the plant.
Spokesman Tim Fox says the company plans to file the joint application with UniStar Nuclear in 2008 in order to keep eligibility for federal tax incentives.
But that application is the only one required by the U-S Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get an operating license for such a nuclear plant.
NRC spokesman Roger Hannah explains what it will include.
For a combined operating license you would not only have to have the site picked out so that you can do the environmental impact reviews, but you would also need to have a technology picked out, Hannah said.
Hannah says the company will have to hold public hearings as part of the environmental impact review.
Ameren officials would not speak on tape.
The company has operated a single-unit nuclear plant in Callaway County since 1984.