nuclear-news

Prairie Island Indian Community raised matters opposing 40-year extension of nuclear license

Tribe to get hearing on Prairie Island nuclear waste concerns
http://www.startribune.com/business/184841971.html?refer=y
 by: DAVID SHAFFER , Star Tribune  December 26, 2012 – 
A federal panel will consider some of the issues raised by the nuclear
plant’s neighbors. Xcel Energy Inc. faces more scrutiny from a federal
panel reviewing the utility’s requested 40-year extension of its
license to store high-level nuclear waste at its power plant in Red
Wing, Minn.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, in a ruling released Friday,
said the Indian tribe living next to Xcel’s Prairie Island nuclear
power plant and waste-storage site has raised several contentions
about the license extension that warrant a hearing before the board’s
three-judge panel.

A core issue — whether the “temporary” cask storage is becoming
permanent — was set aside by the panel while its parent agency, the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, studies the problem across the
nation. A federal appeals court in June struck down the commission’s
waste storage rules, forcing another look at the implications of
keeping radioactive waste at reactor sites for up to 60 years.

“We are dealing with regulations that were established 30 years ago
for what everybody thought would be 10 to 20 years of storage,” said
Phil Mahowald, general counsel for the Prairie Island Indian
Community.

December 28, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, USA