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The public gets a chance to weigh in on Xcel Energy's plan to increase the output of its Monticello nuclear power plant. The state Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing at 7 p.m. at the Monticello Community Center. Xcel wants to increase the plant's capacity to 656 megawatts from 585 by 2011.

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."

Xcel Energy says a monitoring well at its nuclear power plant in Monticello detected a radioactive element at higher levels than allowed under one of the company's permits. The monitoring well showed levels of tritium, a mildly radioactive type of hydrogen, that were below the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standards. But the amount exceeded what is allowed under Xcel's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. In reporting the incident to state and federal regulators on Thursday, Xcel said no elevated levels were detected in any other monitoring wells. The company also says there's no indication tritium has been released off the power plant site. Officials are investigating the source of the tritium.

A man working at Xcel Energy's nuclear generating plant in Monticello was injured and later died after the vehicle he was operating touched a high-voltage power line Wednesday morning, according to the Wright County Sheriff's Office.

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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III office in Lisle, Ill., activated its Incident Response Center today to monitor an unusual event declared at the Monticello Nuclear Power Plant. The plant, operated by Xcel Energy, is located in Monticello, Minn. The unusual event was declared at 10:30 a.m. when a contractor struck a power line, which resulted in a loss of power to non-safety equipment. The contractor was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead, according to local authorities. The loss of power affected equipment necessary to provide cooling water to the reactor. Around 11:30 a.m. the plant restored the equipment necessary to provide cooling water support to the reactor in a shutdown condition.

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.

Westinghouse Electric Company today announced that it has been awarded a contract to design, fabricate and install a new steam dryer for Xcel Energy's Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, a single-unit GE-designed Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) located 40 miles northwest of St. Paul, Minn. To execute this project, Westinghouse will employ its global BWR engineering workforce at multiple locations, as well as at Toshiba Corporation, Westinghouse's majority owner, in Japan.

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.

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.

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.

A Minnesota Indian community with a nuclear power plant as its neighbor is holding a rally to voice opposition to a utility's expansion plans there. Friday's rally by the Prairie Island Indian Community is the latest step it has taken to sound off against Xcel Energy Inc.'s plans for the Red Wing plant. The utility plans to spend $600 million to upgrade the plant so it can handle higher pressure and temperatures that could add 164 megawatts to its output. Regulators have also signed off on expanded waste storage. Tribal members say they are concerned about health and safety risks from the plant.

A Minnesota Indian community with a nuclear power plant as its neighbor is holding a rally to voice opposition to a utility's expansion plans there. Friday's rally by the Prairie Island Indian Community is the latest step it has taken to sound off against Xcel Energy Inc.'s plans for the Red Wing plant. The utility plans to spend $600 million to upgrade the plant so it can handle higher pressure and temperatures that could add 164 megawatts to its output. Regulators have also signed off on expanded waste storage. Tribal members say they are concerned about health and safety risks from the plant.

There are some serious new safety concerns surrounding the Prarie Island nuclear power plant. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified the plant last week that if nearby water pipes broke and flooded the plant, important safety equipment could fail. Those pipes carry non-radioactive cooling water out of the plant to the Mississippi. Experts for Xcel Energy say they have already fixed the problem. But city officials say this should be a warning to the state that Red Wing is underfunded to deal with the possibility of a major catastrophe."

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.

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.

More than half of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association's customers support the use of nuclear power, a company official told a state legislative panel Tuesday. Colorado's second-largest utility is studying whether it would be feasible to build a nuclear power plant on a 16,000- acre site in southeastern Colorado. The Westminster-based company would have to partner with another utility such as Xcel Energy or Public Service Co. of New Mexico because of the size and cost of a nuclear plant, Tri-State senior vice president Mac McLennan told the transportation legislation review committee. A nuclear plant typically costs billions of dollars and generates at least 1,000 megawatts of power.

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.

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.

Lawmaker urges halt in payments to nuclear waste fund While the legislature debates tax increases, one Minnesota congressman wants to give back money most of you have been paying in a hidden fee. You can't find it on your Xcel Energy electricity bill, but you've been paying it for decades--all for something that hasn't even been used. Plans introduced in Congress and here in Minnesota would scrap the fee and give you the refund.