Riverside nuclear station. Xcel’s license to operate the plant expires soon. The company seeks a 20-year license renewal.

Xcel, government agencies assure new openness

MONTICELLO, Minn. – Government regulators and the energy company Xcel pledged transparency as the cleanup on a radioactive leak at the Monticello power station continues but fell short of justifying four months of silence after the leak occurred. This was at a public meeting at which the silence was an issue. Looking forward, Kirk Koudelka, assistant state pollution control commissioner, said: “We want to make sure the folks out there have the complete information.” Regulators at the meeting, as well as Xcel, danced away from the question of the four months of laggard public acknowledgement of the spill. Xcel’s regional president, Chris Clark, conceded that Monticello city officials have encouraged full transparency.  But he left wiggle room, noting that the Xcel’s nuclear station is on private property and that the spill was contained entirely on the property. The regulators reiterated these themes:

> The failure to keep people informed is old news.

> Let’s focus forward. Trust tus: e will be more forthcoming in the future.

> There was never any health risk.

Verbatim

Valerie Myers, a health physicist with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who has a team monitoring the cleanup: “There are wells between the ones that are showing elevated tritium, and the Mississippi that are not showing any elevated levels. We are watching that because the ground flow is toward the Mississippi. While that is not ideal, of course, there’s three times as much tritium in a hallway exit sign than in the water under the plant.

Public forum on Xcel liecnse reneewal

The meeting had been scheduled weeks in advance on Xcel’s application for a 20-year license renewal to operate the plant to 2050. However, the meeting became a forum for Monticello residents to voices concerns about the November leak and the failure of government agencies — and Xcel too — to inform the town immediately and to provide timely updates. One local resident William Fair, encouraged his neighbors to be calm. “We need cool heads to look at the issues that are facing us and proceed in the manner that needs to be taken to resolve the issues.” Monticello. population 24,500, leans heavily economically on 670 jobs at the Xcel plant.

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