State Nuclear Industry

MINNESOTA

Senate Approves Prairie Island Nuclear storage Bill^[1]

Summary: The Minnesota Senate approved a plan that will enable the Prairie Island power plant to store additional waste on site, making it possible to operate the plant through 2014. The bill now goes to the House for final approval. Hotly debated is the role of the legislature after 2014. Under the current bill, lawmakers are not required to participate in future decisions on waste storage.

Minnesota Nuclear Highlights

Of the 31 States with nuclear capacity, Minnesota ranks 21^st.
The Prairie Island nuclear power plant ranks second in capacity among Minnesota’s power plants. The Monticello nuclear plant ranks fourth in the State.

Nuclear Generation in Minnesota, 1960 through 2003
Million Kilowatt Hours

Nuclear Generation in Minnesota, 1960 through 2002

Sources: Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data Report 1999, and Electric Power Annual, Volume 1, 2001, and EIA Survey Form 906.

Nuclear Power Plants in Minnesota
Data for 2003

Plant Name	Nuclear Units	Capacity Net MWe	Share of State Nuclear Generation Total	Operator/Owner
Monticello	Unit 1	597	37 %	Nuclear Mgt. Co./ Xcel Energy Mgt.
Prairie Island	Unit 1, Unit 2	1,049	63 %	Nuclear Mgt. Co./ Xcel Energy Mgt.
Total	3 Reactors	1,646	100 %

Source: Form EIA-860, "Annual Electric Generator Report"

Competing Fuels

Year	Coal	N. Gas	Hydro	Nuclear	Petroleum	Other
Electricity Market in Minnesota (Percent Generated by Fuel)
2003	65	4	2	24	2	3
2002	64	3	2	26	1	4

Source: Form EIA-906, Power Plant Report

Emissions

Minnesota Electric Power Industry Estimated Emissions Thousand Short Tons
Product	Thousand Short Tons	National Ranking	Annual Growth Rate (1993 through 2002)
Sulfur Dioxide	111	25th	-0.8 percent
Nitrogen Oxide	98	19th	-3.9 percent
Carbon Dioxide	40,009	27th	1.6 percent

��Source: State Electricity Profiles, Energy Information Administration

See also, the comprehensive table comparing emissions tonnage for all 50 States plus the District of Columbia.

License Renewal

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), license renewal applications have not yet been received for any of the commercial nuclear reactors in the State of Minnesota. The current license application for the Monticello nuclear power plant expires in 2010, the earliest of the three commercial reactors. The current license for Prairie Island unit 1 expires in 2013, and that for unit 2 expires in 2014.

Information on the current status of all license renewal applications appears on the NRC web site at http://www.nrc.gov . To locate the data, select "index,"then select the letter "l"and click on "License Renewal."

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Info on State's Nuclear Industry

^[1] "Senate Approves Prairie Island Nuclear storage Bill," by Michael Khoo, Minnesota Public Radio, May 23, 2003. On-line: http://news.mpr.org/features/2003/05/23_khoom_nuke/

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