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Prairie Island tribal leaders pledged Monday to keep their focus on nuclear waste management. Newly elected Tribal Council members said after being sworn-in that the fight over dry cask storage at the nearby Prairie Island nuclear plant would continue over the next two years. "Our community faces significant challenges in the coming years and we need to band together to make sure the tribe's interests are well represented," said Tribal Council President Victoria Winfrey. "Our continued battle to get nuclear waste removed from Prairie Island and to preserve our community's culture and heritage will be our top priority."

Prairie Island tribal leaders pledged Monday to keep their focus on nuclear waste management. Newly elected Tribal Council members said after being sworn-in that the fight over dry cask storage at the nearby Prairie Island nuclear plant would continue over the next two years. "Our community faces significant challenges in the coming years and we need to band together to make sure the tribe's interests are well represented," said Tribal Council President Victoria Winfrey. "Our continued battle to get nuclear waste removed from Prairie Island and to preserve our community's culture and heritage will be our top priority."

Higher Costs, Pollution and Proliferation Dangers if Congress Opens Door to Reprocessing MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Minnesota's Congressional delegation is hearing today from a diverse group of 16 Minnesota organizations -- including Clean Water Action, Environment Minnesota, Sierra Club North Star Chapter and the Minnesota Peace Project -- that strongly oppose any effort to open the door to the reprocessing of radioactive waste from Prairie Island and other nuclear reactors when Capitol Hill considers climate and energy legislation. In the case of Xcel Energy's Prairie Island site, where the entire island, including the dry cask storage, sits in a flood plain of the Mississippi River, the waste needs to be moved to a more secure site as close to the reactor as possible as a necessary interim step. The joint letter states that the controversial and dangerous practice of reprocessing is "not a solution to Minnesota's or any state's nuclear waste problem." The letter explains in detail how reprocessing actually increases the volume of radioactive waste, is enormously costly, worsens proliferation concerns (including terrorist threats), increases pollution going into lakes, streams and rivers, and poses a range of safety risks. The full text of the 16-group letter is available online at http://www.carbonfreenuclearfree.org/state-groups/minnesota.

Higher Costs, Pollution and Proliferation Dangers if Congress Opens Door to Reprocessing MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Minnesota's Congressional delegation is hearing today from a diverse group of 16 Minnesota organizations -- including Clean Water Action, Environment Minnesota, Sierra Club North Star Chapter and the Minnesota Peace Project -- that strongly oppose any effort to open the door to the reprocessing of radioactive waste from Prairie Island and other nuclear reactors when Capitol Hill considers climate and energy legislation. In the case of Xcel Energy's Prairie Island site, where the entire island, including the dry cask storage, sits in a flood plain of the Mississippi River, the waste needs to be moved to a more secure site as close to the reactor as possible as a necessary interim step. The joint letter states that the controversial and dangerous practice of reprocessing is "not a solution to Minnesota's or any state's nuclear waste problem." The letter explains in detail how reprocessing actually increases the volume of radioactive waste, is enormously costly, worsens proliferation concerns (including terrorist threats), increases pollution going into lakes, streams and rivers, and poses a range of safety risks. The full text of the 16-group letter is available online at http://www.carbonfreenuclearfree.org/state-groups/minnesota.

An attorney for the Prairie Island Indian Community voiced the community's concerns regarding the renewal license for the nearby Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant during a hearing on Wednesday in Hastings, Minn., in front of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's atomic safety and licensing board. Northern States Power Co. manages Xcel Energy Services, which owns the nuclear plant and hopes to extend operations at the Prairie Island plant for another 20 years and increase the number of on-site storage containers for nuclear waste.

The state's environmental review of Xcel Energy's proposal to ramp up operations at its Prairie Island nuclear plant is too narrow, critics said Tuesday. State officials met with the public at Red Wing Public Library for feedback on a study about the potential environmental impacts of increasing operations at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant. "I feel there are many unanswered questions," Joan Marshman, a Florence Township resident, said. The most common criticism was that the report doesn't prepare for the possibility that nuclear storage at Prairie Island will potentially be permanent, which critics said is necessary considering recent political events.

The Prairie Island Indian Community today called on President Barack Obama to follow the law and deliver on the federal government's decades-old mandate and promise to establish a permanent repository for the nation's commercial nuclear waste. The Tribe's urging comes after Congress approved the FY2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill which cuts funding for the proposed national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., to record low levels. High-level, radioactive nuclear waste from the nation's nuclear power plants is currently accumulating at 'temporary' storage sites in 39 different states, including Minnesota. The Prairie Island Indian Community, near Red Wing, Minn., is located less than 600 yards from a nuclear power plant and nuclear waste storage site operated by Xcel Energy.

The Prairie Island Indian Community today called on President Barack Obama to follow the law and deliver on the federal government's decades-old mandate and promise to establish a permanent repository for the nation's commercial nuclear waste. The Tribe's urging comes after Congress approved the FY2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill which cuts funding for the proposed national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., to record low levels. High-level, radioactive nuclear waste from the nation's nuclear power plants is currently accumulating at 'temporary' storage sites in 39 different states, including Minnesota. The Prairie Island Indian Community, near Red Wing, Minn., is located less than 600 yards from a nuclear power plant and nuclear waste storage site operated by Xcel Energy.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hear oral arguments Oct. 29 in Hastings, Minn. regarding the application by Nuclear Management Company, LLC to renew its license for an additional 20 years of operation at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2, located near Red Wing, Minn. The Prairie Island Indian Community has petitioned to intervene in the license renewal proceeding. The oral arguments will address the standing of this potential party to intervene and the admissibility of its various environmental and technical contentions. The oral arguments will be held in the Dakota County Judicial Center, Courtroom 2E, 1560 Highway 55 in Hastings. They will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct public meetings on Wednesday, July 30, to solicit public comments on possible environmental impacts of 20 additional years of operation at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant, Units 1 and 2. The Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Station has two pressurized water reactors, located 28 miles southeast of Minneapolis. The plant's operator, Nuclear Management Co., submitted its license renewal application April 15.

Nuclear Management Company, LLC.; Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process Nuclear Management Company, LLC. (NMC) has submitted an application for renewal of Facility Operating Licenses No. DPR-42 and DPR-60 for an additional 20 years of operation at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2 (PINGP). PINGP is located in the city of Red Wing, Minnesota, on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

As Xcel Energy pushes plans to extend the life of the Prairie Island nuclear plant, Red Wing officials say that Gov. Tim Pawlenty's state aid cuts have made them less confident in their longterm ability to protect it. City officials, in an unusual step, have intervened in Xcel's proposal before the state public utilities commission -- a sign that Pawlenty's budget cuts may have unintended consequences.

For nearly 40 years, Minnesota has been getting much of its electricity from two nuclear power plants: one in Monticello and twin reactors at Prairie Island, 50 miles southeast of the Twin Cities. Power plants like these were initially licensed for forty years. The Monticello plant has been granted a license extension through 2030. And now, Xcel Energy is asking the government for permission to extend the life of its Prairie Island plant, increase the amount of power it generates, and store more nuclear waste on site.

Federal regulators will be in the Twin Cities this week concerning the Prairie Island nuclear plant's effort to have its license renewed and a challenge to that renewal by the Prairie Island Indian Community. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments Wednesday in Hastings regarding the application for a license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation at the Xcel Energy plant near Red Wing.

Xcel Energy issued an elevated alert level Sunday after traces of hydrazine were discovered in the turbine building at its Prairie Island Nuclear Plant in Red Wing, Minnesota. Hydrazine, an ammonia-like chemical used to avoid corrosion and rusting in pipes, was reported higher than normal levels.

Dakota, Goodhue and Pierce county residents should not be alarmed by the extra activity at the Prairie Island nuclear plant on Tuesday, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. State emergency responders will be participating in an exercise simulating a nuclear incident, said DPS spokesman Doug Neville. The exercise is designed to test the capabilities of emergency responders during a nuclear incident.

Operators of the Prairie Island nuclear power plant twice violated federal nuclear safety rules last fall, but the violations did not pose a safety threat to the public or plant workers. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the violations Monday, saying that they had "low to moderate safety significance" and that they would trigger additional NRC inspections and meetings, as opposed to a fine.

Fifteen years ago, the owner of the Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing was in the fight of its life to continue producing electricity there. The company's request to expand its radioactive waste storage dominated the Legislature for months. Today Xcel Energy is well on its way toward receiving a 20-year extension of Prairie Island's license, and some legislators want to open the state to more nuclear power.

A radioactive piece of equipment passed muster when it left Prairie Island nuclear plant, but the package exceeded safe radiation shipping levels by eight times when it reached Pennsylvania. Plant Vice President Mike Wadley called it a serious and rare event. The Nuclear Regulation Commission officials notified him by mail last week that they have issued a preliminary "yellow" finding in the matter. Yellow is the third highest of four safety risk rankings. The NRC defines a yellow as an incident of substantial safety significance that will require additional inspections.

Xcel Energy is changing its procedures and its employee training to avoid a repeat of an October incident in which a piece of equipment shipped from Minnesota to Pennsylvania was found to have radiation levels above federal limits, Scott Northard, the plant manager for Xcel's Prairie Island nuclear station, said Wednesday. In a February 10 letter and accompanying inspection report released Tuesday, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a preliminary "yellow" finding to Xcel for the incident. Yellow, the second-highest of the four levels in NRC's scale, indicates "substantial safety significance."

The Department of Natural Resources is waiting to read next month's draft environmental impact statement for expanding the capacity and life of the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant near Red Wing before it can tell how the project will affect fishing on the Mississippi River. But it already is concerned about more warm water, both in winter and summer. The plant's license to operate one of two reactors will expire in four years, while the other will end in five years. The plant is 7 river miles above Red Wing.

Minnesota regulators have signed off on Xcel Energy's plan for the future, which could include expanding generation capacity and storage at one of its nuclear power plants. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the plan on Thursday. It covers how the utility proposes to meet demand for power 15 years into the future, and what specific steps it will take in the next five years. The plan includes increasing generation capacity and dry cask storage at the Prairie Island nuclear plant near Red Wing.

"Prairie Island Nuclear plant operators knew of the potential for flooding in the plant's Unit 1 and Unit 2 turbine buildings, but failed to understand the implications on important safety-related equipment, according to a preliminary finding submitted to the plant Thursday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The failure to identify and correct the potential safety issues in a timely manner is a significant human performance issue and cause for further review by the agency, according to NRC inspectors. Plant officials have 10 days to respond to the findings before the NRC decides whether to take enforcement action. "We're waiting now for their response," said NRC spokesperson Viktoria Mitlyng."