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Xcel Energy
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=== Nuclear waste, radioactive water management === The parent company to Xcel Energy, and later Xcel Energy itself have operated the [[Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant]] since 1973. Over that time, nuclear waste produced by the power plant has been stored adjacent to the [[Prairie Island Indian Community]]. The homes of some members of the community are within 600 yards of the nuclear waste containment site. The island is very vulnerable to seasonal flooding because it is on the bank of the [[Mississippi River]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Mark |title=Flooding and Nuclear Waste Eat Away at a Tribe's Ancestral Home |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/us/politics/tribal-lands-flooding-nuclear-waste.html |access-date=21 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=13 November 2021}}</ref> While in 1991, the [[Minnesota Public Utilities Commission]] capped the storage of nuclear waste on the island to 17 casks, the legislature has since permitted this number to increase. Environmentalists and members of the Prairie Island Indian Community have been working since 1994 to have this nuclear waste transported away from their reservation due to the combined risk of the temporary design of the storage facility, unpredictable flooding and single evacuation road in the event nuclear waste is released from containment. On March 16, 2023, Xcel Energy announced that a significant unplanned release of radioactive water from its Monticello nuclear power plant took place on November 21, 2022, which was reported only to state and federal authorities but was concealed from the public until then.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-xcel-energy-nuclear-radioactive-tritium-leak-c7a12ecb1b203179c5f7fef42bd0a3aa |title=400,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked from a nuclear plant in Minnesota |date=16 March 2023 |last=Karnowski |first=Steve |publisher=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64989112 |title=Clean-up of radioactive water leak ongoing at Minnesota nuclear plant |date=17 March 2023 |last=Cabral |first=Sam |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> Xcel estimated the leak to be 400 thousand gallons of contaminated water containing radioactive [[tritium]]. The leak occurred in a water pipe that runs between two buildings.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Seversn |first1=Gordon |title=Xcel Energy and state officials share more information about leak at Monticello nuclear power plant |url=https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/xcel-energy-state-officials-share-more-information-about-leak-at-monticello-nuclear-power-plant/89-b9028cf4-c2bd-40a6-a749-04dd7c4cea0f |access-date=19 March 2023 |work=kare11.com |date=<!-- 6:29 PM CDT --> March 17, 2023}}</ref>
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