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Missouri energy companies to collaborate on developing nuclear reactors in Callaway County

 

Westinghouse and St. Louis-based Ameren Missouri will collaborate on developing small modular nuclear reactors, or SMR’s, and will seek to build them at Ameren’s Callaway County plant. 

Westinghouse officials say they’ll apply for federal funding to build an SMR alongside Callaway’s current reactor, and to build more SMR’s at the site for export.  Gov. Jay Nixon described the economic potential as enormous:

“Missouri’s central location along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers would also make our state a convenient location for shipping these modular reactors to markets anywhere in the world…this is a collaboration that would grow jobs, grow our economy,” Nixon said. 

Ameren officials would apply for licenses to operate up to five SMR’s if the funding is approved.  Meanwhile, the utility has suspended efforts to seek an early sight permit for a second reactor. 

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.
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