Prairie Island plant to increase capacity

Federal regulators today approved a request by Prairie Island Nuclear Plant officials to increase the facility’s power generating capacity by 1.64 percent.

The facility can safely increase its output through more accurate measurements of feedwater flow, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission news release.

The power uprate will increase the generating capacity of the plant’s Unit 1 reactor from 551 to 560 megawatts and Unit 2’s generating capacity from 545 to 554 megawatts. Xcel, which owns and operates the facility, plans to put the uprate in place in February.

The uprate is not connected to the proposed extended uprate at Prairie Island approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in December. Plant officials will seek NRC approval of that plan, which would increase the plant’s capacity by 164 megawatts, after the agency acts on the plant’s license renewal request next year, according to Xcel spokeswoman Mary Sandok.

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