Xcel Energy 2010 Annual Report Download - page 23

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Hiawatha Transmission Project
In November 2010, NSP-Minnesota submitted a CON application to the MPUC for two 115 KV lines in Minneapolis, Minn.
Hearings on the CON will be held mid-2011 with an expectation of an MPUC decision of the CON and route permit by the end of
2011.
Glencoe to Waconia
In November 2010, NSP-Minnesota submitted a CON to the MPUC for 115 KV transmission line upgrades to the Glencoe, Minn.
to Waconia, Minn. 69 KV line. This was followed by a route permit application filed in December 2010. Hearings on both
applications will be held in mid-2011 with an expectation of an MPUC decision regarding both applications by the end of 2011.
Regulatory Investigations
Sewer Conflict Mitigation Deferred Accounting — In response to a February 2010 natural gas-fueled house fire in St. Paul,
Minn., NSP-Minnesota initiated a three-year plan to investigate its natural gas system for conflicts between sewer lines and its
natural gas lines, and are estimating plan costs at approximately $3.5 million per year. In December 2010, the MPUC approved
deferred accounting of plan expenditures for recovery consideration in a future natural gas rate case.
ARCs — In 2009, the FERC adopted rules requiring MISO and other RTOs to allow ARCs to offer demand response aggregation
services to end-use customers unless the relevant state regulatory agency prohibited the operation of ARCs. Under MISO’s
proposed tariff revisions, ARCs would operate in competition with the state-regulated retail demand response programs offered
by NSP-Minnesota. MISO requested its tariff revisions be effective in June 2010; however the FERC has not issued an order on
MISO’s ARC-related tariff revisions. In May 2010, the MPUC and SDPUC issued orders prohibiting, or temporarily prohibiting,
the operation of ARCs. In August 2010, the NDPSC issued an order prohibiting the operation of ARCs. In January 2011, the
MPUC asked public utilities to explore the potential of programs with ARCs that compliment existing DSM and CIP initiatives.
FCA Investigation — In 2003, the MPUC opened an investigation to consider the continuing usefulness of the FCA for electric
utilities in Minnesota. Continued discussions among utilities, the OES, MOAG and business customers regarding appropriate
FCA reporting detail and provision of additional information to customers is ongoing.
Nuclear Power Operations and Waste Disposal
NSP-Minnesota owns two nuclear generating plants: the Monticello plant and the Prairie Island plant, which has two units. See
Note 15 to the consolidated financial statements for further discussion regarding the nuclear generating plants.
Nuclear power plant operation produces gaseous, liquid and solid radioactive wastes. The discharge and handling of such wastes
are controlled by federal regulation. High-level radioactive wastes primarily include used nuclear fuel. LLW consists primarily of
demineralizer resins, paper, protective clothing, rags, tools and equipment that have become contaminated through use in the
plant.
LLW Disposal — Federal law places responsibility on each state for securing a site to be used for the disposal of LLW generated
within its borders. LLW from NSP-Minnesota’s Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants is currently disposed at the Clive
facility located in Utah. If off-site LLW disposal facilities become unavailable, NSP-Minnesota has storage capacity available on-
site at Prairie Island and Monticello that would allow both plants to continue to operate until the end of their current licensed
lives.
High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal — The federal government has the responsibility to permanently dispose of domestic
spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive wastes. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the DOE to implement a
program for nuclear high-level waste management. This includes the siting, licensing, construction and operation of a repository
for spent nuclear fuel from civilian nuclear power reactors and other high-level radioactive wastes at a permanent federal storage
or disposal facility. In 2002, the U.S. Congress designated Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the first deep geologic repository over the
objections of the Governor of Nevada. In 2008, the DOE submitted an application to construct a deep geologic repository at
Yucca Mountain to the NRC.