AmerenUE Proposes to Implement Safety Stabilization Plan at Its Taum Sauk Plant

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AmerenUE Proposes to Implement Safety Stabilization Plan at Its Taum Sauk Plant
    ST. LOUIS, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- As required by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, AmerenUE has developed a work plan for safely
stabilizing the upper reservoir at its Taum Sauk Plant near Lesterville, MO.
    The FERC has instructed AmerenUE to proceed with its Safety Stabilization
Plan.  In response, AmerenUE filed a request with the Missouri Department of
Natural Resources for a permit to implement the plan.
    The plan specifies the work necessary to safely stabilize the Taum Sauk
Plant's upper reservoir, following the Dec. 14, 2005, breach in the northwest
corner.  On Dec. 14, a 700-foot rupture in the upper reservoir of the
40-year-old hydroelectric plant caused more than one billion gallons of water
to flood the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park near Lesterville.
    Slated for completion by summer 2006, the safety initiative also includes
phased-in projects for:

    --  Establishing safe slopes in the breached area and establishing a safe
        working area along the top of the dike.
    --  Removing concrete parapet wall panels at the top of the dike to allow
        access there by equipment used to stabilize the slopes.
    --  Rebuilding existing access roads and constructing a new road and ramp
        to provide access for heavy equipment into the upper reservoir.
    --  Removing all silt and the remaining liner material inside the upper
        reservoir, in addition to concrete debris and exposed rebar in the
        breached area.
    --  Designing, building and installing a cover and hatch for the vertical
        shaft that carries water back and forth between the lower and upper
        reservoirs.


    Ameren officials indicated that no decision about rebuilding the plant
will be made until after the results of the investigations being conducted by
the FERC and other agencies are completed.

    BACKGROUND:
    On Dec. 14 the AmerenUE Taum Sauk Plant's upper reservoir experienced a
rupture in the northwest corner, causing 1.5 billions gallons of water to flow
downward.  The company implemented its emergency plan and assembled a
multi-disciplinary team of experts, company officials and consultants to
analyze the event and determine next steps.
    Built in 1963, AmerenUE's Taum Sauk is a "pumped-storage" hydroelectric
plant with a generating capacity of 450 megawatts.  It stored water from the
Black River in the upper reservoir, built atop 1,590-foot-high Proffit
Mountain, and released the water to generate electricity when power is needed.
The plant employs 12.  The water flowed down a mile-long tunnel inside the
mountain, turning turbine-generators to produce electricity.  When power
demand was low, the same turbines ran in reverse to pump water back to the
upper reservoir.
    AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation
(NYSE: AEE).  Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and nearly
one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and
Illinois.
SOURCE AmerenUE
http://www.ameren.com
CONTACT:
Susan Gallagher, +1-314-554-2175, or Tim Fox,
+1-314-554-3120, both of AmerenUE