Portland, Maine (Platts)--23Apr2009

AmerenUE has dropped plans to build a 1,600-MW nuclear facility in
Missouri, because the utility did not think state lawmakers would be able to
overturn the state's ban on recovering costs on construction work in progress,
Tom Voss, AmerenUE president and CEO, said Thursday.

"Ameren is suspending its effort to build a nuclear plant," Voss said.
"We needed financial certainty before we can move forward. The current bill
doesn't offer that."

Ameren does not intend to try to revive the legislation on CWIP in future
legislative sessions, Voss said. The climate in Missouri would need to change
to overcome opposition to the bill and the company does not expect that to
happen anytime soon, he said.

St. Louis-based AmerenUE maintained that overturning the CWIP ban was
necessary to build a nuclear plant next to its existing Callaway nuclear plant
near Fulton, Missouri. AmerenUE, which has an application at the US Nuclear
Regulatory commission for the project, expected the nuclear facility to cost
roughly $6.8 billion. Without CWIP, the company estimated financing would cost
an additional $3 billion.

Currently, two bills are pending in the Missouri General Assembly that
would overturn the ban on CWIP. Both bills (S.B. 228 and H.B. 554) would apply
to "clean" baseload plants and to renewable energy projects. Among various
provisions, the bills would bar the possibility of appealing Missouri Public
Service Commission CWIP-related decisions to courts. The House passed the
bill, but action stalled in the Senate. AmerenUE did not see any way to work
out a compromise on the legislation that would preserve financial certainty
for the utility, Voss said.

The bills were strongly opposed by large industrial customers,
environmental and consumer groups. The groups claimed that overturning CWIP
could lead to 40% rate hikes. AmerenUE did not expect to make a final decision
on moving ahead with the project for two years, but needed financial certainty
in place before it made that decision, Voss said.