What About Nuclear Power?
by Jeff Keljik
Director of Training
There are 61 commercial nuclear power plants in the United States, which include 99 nuclear reactors. The newest reactor started in October of 2016. Four new reactors are under construction: two in Georgia and two in South Carolina. Minnesota has decreased the amount of electricity that is produced by nuclear fission. In May of 2016 we had 1,275 thousand megawatt hours of electricity produced and by May of 2017, Minnesota produced 974 thousand megawatt hours for a 23.4% decrease according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Xcel energy runs all the nuclear production in Minnesota. Monticello plant, near Monticello MN produces 671 Megawatts runs as a base load plant – 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It uses steam from water in the reactor so is known as a boiling water reactor. The plant gets shut down for refueling after about 22 months of continuous operation to get 1/3 of its fuel rods replaced. The plant began operation in 1971 and has received approval for continued operation until 2030.
The other nuclear plant in Minnesota is the Prairie Island plant. It is known as a pressurized water reactor that used hot water under pressure so that the water does not turn to steam in the reactor system. The hot water from the reactor in turn boils water in a “steam generator” to create steam for the turbines. It is a large plant with two reactors with 1,100 megawatts of total generation near Red Wing. Reactor #1 started in 1973 and # 2 in 1974. They are expected to operate until 2033 and 2034 at present expectations. This plant too is a base load plant operating continuously for 18 months at a time before refueling.
The first reactor in Minnesota was the Elk River plant. It began production in June of 1965 in was shut down in January of 1968.
While other utilities are closing older nuclear plants, Xcel has reinvested in their two locations to keep these “base load” plants operating. Xcel claims that these plants are safe, reliable and carbon dioxide free power sources of electric generation.
We can see that coal is providing less and less of the fuel for power generation and that natural gas is providing a larger share of the fuels for power generation. Nuclear remains about the same megawatt hours of production from 2007-2017 and hydroelectric has stayed about the same over the last ten years. Solar photovoltaic and Wind along with natural gas have taken the place of the reduction in coal burning plants because the overall consumption for the U.S. has gone down only slightly.