Is nuclear power attractive or risky? In Minnesota, it’s both.
At a clearing in the brush, a clunky wooden dock is still pulled onshore for the season amid piles of dirty snow. Usually, this boat landing at the Montissippi Regional Park is a popular spot for amateurs to fish bass and walleye from the Mississippi River.
But after the Xcel Energy nuclear plant – just half a mile away – announced in March that radioactive material had leaked twice from a faulty pipe since November, some locals say they’re worried about what’s in the water.
“I’m more reluctant to put my line in the river now. I don’t know if it’s safe,” says Chuck, a Monticello resident who came to the park to play disc golf with friends. Chuck’s father worked at the nuclear plant for decades before leaving on bad terms (and for this reason, the son declines to give his last name). “I haven’t taken the
