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State Representative Michael Beard
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-8872
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
NEWS COLUMN
We need to start talking about nuclear energy
When it comes to realizing the potential of new ideas in Minnesota, our state legislature has a pretty good track record of helping those ideas get off the ground. From our medical device industry to the creation of charter schools to being a leader in aviation innovation, our elected officials usually know a good thing when they see it. Unfortunately that foresight doesn’t extend to nuclear power.
Starting in the early 1970s, Minnesota has operated two nuclear power plants (Monticello since 1971 and Prairie Island, near Red Wing, since 1973). And since their construction, both plants have been models of safety and efficiency and have served as the backbone of our state’s power grid. But despite their proven track record and the hundreds of high-skilled, high-paying jobs they provide there are some in the state legislature that would like to see them simply go away. We can’t allow this to happen.
Since 1994, when the Prairie Island plant asked permission from the state to store its spent fuel in large steel casks adjacent to the plant, there has been a total ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants in Minnesota (in fact, some would say that the ban even prohibits electric utilities from including nuclear power in any way in their generation plan updates). But fifteen years ago that restriction was the political price that Northern States Power – and the rest of us – had to pay to store the spent fuel rods on site.
This year, nuclear power and the role it will play in Minnesota’s energy future is again taking center stage, but for a slightly different reason. The Prairie Island plant is now going through the process of renewing its operating license for the next 20 years. This new license will most likely take the plant up to the end of its useful life. And because the construction of a new plant takes roughly 20 years – 10 years for the licensing approval process and 10 years for construction – Minnesota stands to lose 1,100 megawatts of power and the plant’s 600 jobs unless we act quickly. We aren’t alone in realizing this fact either. According to a recent article in the Star Tribune, “17 companies have filed applications with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build 26 new plants” around the United States; just none in Minnesota. Delaying now will only put us further behind other states and force us to make hasty decisions when the time finally does come for decommissioning the plant.
Ending the ban on new nuclear power plant construction is important for another reason as well. All throughout last year’s Presidential campaign nearly every candidate talked about the need to become more energy independent. What better way for our state and country to do so than to commit to building a new generation of safe, clean and reliable nuclear power plants? And don’t forget, plants with hundreds of high-paying American jobs!
Last week, and quite unexpectedly, the State Senate voted to end Minnesota’s ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants. And though a House committee last month defeated a similar proposal in committee, for me and many of my colleagues the answer is simple. We need to start talking about nuclear energy and we need to do it now.
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