The Lies Have It: #XcelEnergy Wins Operating Extension for Nation’s 5th Oldest Nuclear Reactor

by John Laforge, January 10, 2025

"I.F. Stone famously said, 'All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.' The aphorism applies well to #NuclearReactor operators, including Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy.

"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (#NRC) has granted Xcel a second license extension for operating its 54-year-old #MonticelloReactor on the #MississippiRiver in #Minnesota. The decision will permit this GE jalopy, a #Fukushima clone, to run until it’s 80 years old — a dangerous feat never been done in the history of nuclear power. The NRC received over 3,000 public comments mostly critical of the extension, but the the commission has rubber stamped 87 of 92 similar requests, so call the NRC Never Really Concerned.

"The NRC nod is based partly on the commission’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (#EIS) for the re-licensing, even though the document confirms that Xcel repeatedly made false statements about its massive 2022-‘23 leak of #radioactive cooling water. According to a March 16, 2023 Associated Press (AP) story, Xcel’s first public response to the major leak was, 'There’s no danger to the public.' Xcel then proceeded to understate by more than half the leak’s actual volume, only estimating it was 400,000 gallons.

"Xcel eventually acknowledged that volume of the leak, from an old corroded underground pipe, was 829,000 gallons, and that the #groundwater plume of reactor cooling water — some of which would later reach the Mississippi River — had a radioactive footprint of some fourteen curies of #tritium — a very large amount. (For a reference, the 1979 partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island released an estimated 15 curies of gaseous radioactive iodine-131 to the Pennsylvania atmosphere. Other radioactive materials went into the Susquehanna River.)

"Xcel’s 829,000-gallon leak was always a direct threat to drinking water because — as the company’s own 2023 Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Report states on page 13 — 'It is assumed groundwater continuously flows to the river…' The Mississippi is the drinking water source for 20 million people, including #Minneapolis, #StPaul and their surrounding suburbs 37 miles downstream from the leaky reactor."

Read more:
counterpunch.org/2025/01/10/th…
#RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #WaterIsLife #MonticelloNuclearPlant

#Nuclear corporations often under-report radiation amounts, or take their time about reporting incidents (sometimes only after there's a whistleblower involved). After all, it's all about image and money, not public or environmental safety.

#Xcel fined $14K over unpermitted storage of #radioactive water at #Minnesota #nuclear plant

After a leak of #tritium at the #MonticelloNuclear Generating Station was revealed in March, Xcel faced repeated challenges in collecting and storing the tainted water.

By Chloe Johnson Star Tribune
December 14, 2023

"#XcelEnergy has been fined $14,000 for storing radioactive water without a permit in the aftermath of a spill last year at its Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant.

"Meanwhile, Xcel revealed Thursday that the original spill started a few weeks earlier than the company originally reported, and may have released more than twice as much radioactive water as it originally estimated.

"The plant, about a 30-minute drive northwest of the Twin Cities, sprung a leak of tritium-tainted water in late 2022. The utility and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) didn't reveal the leak to the public until the following March, drawing public criticism and a promise from state officials to be more transparent.

"Xcel originally reported that some 400,000 gallons of water had seeped from a broken pipe in a narrow space between two buildings. But on Thursday, it reported that the real amount was more likely between 750,000 and 900,000 gallons — an updated guess based on research the company has done and 'signs that the leak may have started a few weeks earlier than previously estimated.'"

startribune.com/xcel-fined-14k…

#WaterIsLife #MississippiRiver #TEPCOLies #XcelLies #NoNukes #MoreOversight #RethinkNotRestart