![]() He’s watched for years as utility companies unveil their annual plans, always emphasizing closures of carbon-heavy coal plants but rarely highlighting new construction. “Whether it’s 100 degrees or 30-below - or dark of night, or bright summer day - you’re going to get about the same amount of energy generated around the clock, which is not a feature of a lot of other renewable or clean forms of energy,” Mathews said. There’ll be a second chance next year, but it will require building bridges with fence-sitting conservatives and within the DFL party. The amendment was included in this year’s Energy Omnibus Bill but failed to proceed beyond the Senate, lacking support, he said, with the House and Walz. Rather than fight dissenting Republicans and the majority DFL party over a full repeal of the state’s moratorium, he’s introduced a “carve-out” amendment to the moratorium that would permit development of reactors under 300 megawatts (the state’s current reactors have individual capacities of approximately 550 megawatts) while still being required to adhere to all of the usual licensing and regulations. Mathews also serves as the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate Committee. ![]() The young senator is eyeing the potential of new nuclear technologies and advanced reactor design - especially Small Modular Reactors, a nascent development intended to offer a more assembly line approach to reactor construction and much smaller facilities - that might plug into the existing infrastructure left behind by the Sherburne County (Sherco) coal plant. Although the company is developing a 460-megawatt solar plant, Mathews and others are concerned about an impending loss of jobs and tax revenue. His district includes the city of Becker where Xcel Energy has announced plans to shutter their now 47-year-old coal plant by 2030. The Princeton Republican may well be the face of pro-nuclear policy in Minnesota. Should we brace for a nuclear renaissance? A champion for nuclear Utility leaders argue something needs to fill the role of base load power generation. Nuclear has had a bad rap, but renewable sources don’t produce a consistent flow of power on their own. In this story, we’ll look at the people and politics driving nuclear policy in Minnesota and whether or not the technology might make a comeback in light of carbon-free mandates. It’s an energy source with fuel so affordable that spent fuel is discarded with more than 90% of its energy remaining, and yet the cost of operating a new nuclear facility is beyond nearly every other form of electricity production.Īnd it’s an issue that goes beyond party lines. It’s a consistent and reliable energy source, but a handful of historic failures have been so catastrophic that entire countries have abandoned their atomic ambitions. Nuclear is a carbon-free energy source but produces radioactive waste (spent fuel) that can output high levels of radiation for thousands of years. ![]() Entire careers have been made advocating for and against fission energy. ![]() Nuclear power is more than a political minefield. In 1994, lawmakers placed a statewide moratorium on new construction of nuclear power, controversy chased the existing facilities, and several national and international incidents seemed to seal the fate of the “friendly atom.” New nuclear development has stalled locally, as it largely has nationally. Those same reactors still fracture atoms today and account for nearly a quarter of the state’s energy generation.īut since those original facilities opened? Nothing. Built by Northern States Power - today Xcel Energy - the plants offered the equivalent output of roughly 4.5 million solar panels or enough electricity to power approximately 1.3 million homes. In 1969 the state stirred national debate with an attempt to set new, state-specific regulations, inciting, at least in part, the abolition of the Atomic Energy Commissionīy the mid 1970s three reactors at two sites were pouring out a potential 1.5-gigawatts electrical of nuclear power. Minnesota was the site of one of the country’s first rural atomic plants. Solar, hydro, and wind generation are being deployed at breakneck speed, but there’s one black sheep in the carbon-free family: nuclear power, the fissioning of uranium atoms to create heat that ultimately turns a steam turbine and produces electricity. Tim Walz made national news earlier this year by announcing that all Minnesota energy utilities have 17 years to fully decarbonize.īy 2040, all of the state’s power must come from carbon-free sources. This story is the first in a series from Project Optimist, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization based in St.
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