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State Representative Paul Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4317
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OP/ED COLUMN
BEHIND THE SCENES AT POWER PLANTS
By State Rep. Paul Anderson
Along with several other legislators, I recently had the opportunity to tour one of Xcel Energy’s nuclear power plants. The facility we toured is located northwest of Monticello just off I-94 and has been in operation for 39 years. We just didn’t show up for the tour; those in our group had to apply for security clearance several weeks prior to the scheduled date.
Like conventional generating facilities, the Monticello plant is a steam plant. The difference is in the use of nuclear fission instead of coal or gas to heat water into the steam that turns the turbines. During a pre-tour briefing, we were told that a single uranium pellet, about the size of one’s fingertip, contains as much energy as 149 gallons of oil or 1,780 pounds of coal. The pellets are loaded into fuel rods, which are then grouped into fuel assemblies. The Monticello plant is on a 22-month refueling cycle, which means it could continuously generate power that long before needing to be shut down for changing fuel assemblies.
The nuclear generating industry in this country is regulated federally by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA). According to their statistics, the nuclear industry has a 91.5 per cent on-line performance. In comparison, coal-fired plants’ on-line performance record is 71 percent.
In total, there are 104 nuclear plants in the United States. Each was given a 40-year license to operate and is eligible for a 20-year extension. So far, 52 have been renewed, and 18 others are under review. The Monticello plant is one of those to have received an extension, and so has an NRC operating license through 2030. It also has state approval to maintain dry storage of spent fuel through 2030.
Minnesota currently has a moratorium in place prohibiting the construction of new nuclear generating facilities. A resolution to lift the moratorium passed the Senate this past session but was defeated in the House. Nationwide, 18 applications have been made for new plants. These proposed new facilities would generate an estimated 32,000 megawatts of electric power. If any are approved, the earliest construction could begin is 2011, with completion approximately four years later. It’s estimated the cost to construct a new nuclear facility is around $5 billion, approximately the same figure as a new coal-fired plant with carbon sequestration capabilities.
To me the biggest drawback to nuclear power is the problem of how to handle the spent fuel. In Europe, the fuel is re-processed and partially used again. According to officials at the Monticello plant, reprocessing is not a silver bullet that would totally solve the problem because a deep repository is still needed.
Congress passed legislation in ’02 that allowed for such a facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, public sentiment has been so strong that work on the project has been stopped. All electric customers, though, as still paying a fee of one mill, which is one-tenth of one cent, on their electric bills into what’s called the Nuclear Waste Fund. So far, $23 billion has been collected, of which 380 million is from Minnesota. We were told that the Yucca Mountain Project can’t be totally stopped by a President. It would take action by both houses of Congress to eliminate the program.
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Rep. Anderson encourages constituents to contact his new office with input regarding any state legislative issue. He can be reached on the web at www.house.mn/13A and via email at rep.paul.anderson@house.mn. To contact Anderson by phone, call (651) 296-4317. Mail can be sent to Rep. Paul Anderson, 239 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, Minnesota 55155.
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