ST. PAUL, Minn. – The state Public Utilities Commission granted a 17-year extension to Xcel Energy to operate a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at its aging and troubled Monticello power plant. Xcel Energy told regulators that the extension would be a “major step toward continuing to provide reliable carbon-free energy for more than 500,000 customers.” Meanwhile, Xcel has a separate request for an extension before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Monticello nuclear plant, on the banks of the Mississippi River, was built in 1971. Faulty tubes resulted in a 2022 radioactivity leak that keeps moving through groundwater nearer to the river
