Nearly a thousand workers are at the Prairie Island nuclear plant near Red Wing for the next month, refueling Unit One, doing routine maintenance, and replacing the main generator — which Xcel Energy V-P Scott Sharp says has been in service since the plant was built in the 1970s. He says, “The one that we’re removing now… currently is actually the oldest operating generator in the [U-S] nuclear fleet, I believe.”
Sharp says they’re also testing and doing preventive maintenance on multiple electrical and mechanical systems, so they can depend on safety systems in case of any “event” at the plant. He says they want to “assure ourselves that all those systems would work together in order to protect public health and safety.”