Twin cooling silos. Plant is on Prairie Island on Mississippi River 45 miles downstream from Minneapolis and 75 miles upstream from Winona.
Equipment malfunction blamed; customers unaffected
RED WING, Minn. – For the past 1-1/2 weeks the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant has been limping on just one of its two reactors, Xcel Energy, the plant’s owner, confirmed. There has never been any danger to the public, the company said. What happened? Excel’s account: What’s called an “unusual event” in the industry occurred May 27 when a transformer malfunctioned and set off a fire alarm that ultimately disabled the plant’s Unit 2 reactor. Unit 1 kept functioning normally. Meanwhile Unit 2 was powered down for repairs. Electric service to customers was never interrupted. The U.S Nuclear Regulatory Agency was notified immediately with “A Notification of Unusual Event,” which is the lowest of four emergency classifications established by the agency.