Prairie Island tribe urges caution as Minnesota committee weighs lifting nuclear moratorium

The Minnesota Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment and Climate Committee took public testimony on the state’s 30‑year moratorium on new nuclear plant construction and about the state’s existing nuclear fleet and spent fuel.

Tribal leaders, utilities, labor unions and clean‑energy advocates told the committee that nuclear power provides dispatchable, carbon‑free electricity important to reliability and growth, but the Prairie Island Indian Community said any decision about new construction must address long‑term storage of spent fuel and the community’s decades‑long proximity to the Prairie Island plant.

Blake Johnson, government relations representative and tribal member of the Prairie Island Indian Community, told the panel that the reservation sits “less than 700 yards” from the Prairie Island nuclear plant and described the community’s experience living next to stored spent fuel. He traced the tribe’s objections to how decisions were made in the 1970s and to a 1994 state law that authorized on‑site dry cask storage and established the moratorium. Johnson said the tribe opposed lifting the moratorium until there is a viable plan for long‑term waste disposal.

Utility witnesses described the system role of existing nuclear plants and interest in advanced reactors. Pam Gorman, who has worked in nuclear operations and policy for Xcel Energy for 35 years, described MPR’s two plants: Prairie Island (two pressurized water reactors producing about 1,100 megawatts) and…