Prairie Island nuclear plant fully operational

Operators at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant’s Unit 2 announced that the unit returned to its full power on March 28 at 5:55 p.m.

The reactor was shut down on March 5, 2015. The unit’s repair components had failed, causing the fire alarm to signal a false alarm. Because of the alarm, the unit operators had to declare an "Unusual Event."

Located 28 miles southeast of Minneapolis-St. Paul and approximately six miles northwest of Red Wing, Prairie Island is a productive power plant. It has two pressurized water reactors that make approximately 1,076 megawatts of electricity for residents throughout the state.

Prairie Island, owned and operated by Xcel Energy of Minneapolis, provides electricity for approximately 1 million homes. To make up for the lack of electricity, Xcel Energy used its other facilities to generate power for the residents.

Xcel Energy purchased electricity for its customers from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator for this purpose.

Xcel Energy is a leader among the electric and natural gas companies based in the U.S. It offers a portfolio of its products and services that are related to energy. The company services 1.9 million customers will natural gas and 3.5 million customers with electricity throughout eight states.