NRC Commissioner Kristine Svinicki visited the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant July 14 to take a tour of the plant and meet with employees and leadership.

The Commissioner spoke about NRC regulations and their impact on our plant. Senior leadership discussed with the Commissioner the current economic and state regulatory environment, impacts on energy and the long term storage of used nuclear fuel. She voiced her concern that short-term electricity market issues are causing plants to close early because the economics don’t support continued operation. The Commissioner voiced her concern that this is a short-sighted solution and that nuclear power has a vital role in supplying base load energy to the electric grid system.

On a tour of the plant, the Commissioner met with Control Room staff to talk about operator burdens and NFPA 805, viewed the new Unit 2 main generator and the redundant emergency diesel generators, which have cross-tie capability. Staff also showed the Commissioner the FLEX building and equipment and plant connections to respond to beyond design bases events. The new Unit 2 step up transformer was an additional highlight of the plant tour.

In her closing thoughts, the Commissioner urged employees to be more vocal and better advocates in the community to support the Prairie Island plant.

NRC Commissioner Svinicki tours the Control Room while visiting the Prairie Island plant. Pictured left to right: Darrel Robert, NRC deputy regional administrator, Commissioner Svinicki, Darrell Lapcinski, Prairie Island assistant operations manager, and Werner Paulhardt, Prairie Island plant manager.