Last week, Lyon County Commissioners voted to join a number of other Minnesota counties in signing a resolution urging state legislators to lift the moratorium on new nuclear energy development in the state.

Sherburne County commissioners have been sending letters to other counties throughout the state to join the Minnesota Nuclear Energy Alliance which is a partnership calling on state lawmakers to lift the moratorium.

“Through our administrator’s group, I see a lot of counties will be taking this up, either today or probably before the end of the year,” Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg told commissioners before holding the vote.

Reporter Deb Gau reported in her story on the meeting that Minnesota currently has two nuclear energy facilities. One is located in Monticello and the other one in Red Wing. According to Xcel information, the two plants supply more than 23% of Minnesota’s electricity.

Minnesota, however, uses a fairly equal mixture of energy sources. Natural gas provides 26%, coal 19% and renewable energy about 33%.

No one in southwest Minnesota would dispute that wind energy is one of those renewable energy sources. Wind mills dot the region’s landscape.

“We have to deal with wind and solar all the time. What difference is this, in power?” Commissioner Rick Anderson asked. “It’s a clean form of energy.”

Well, here’s the answer for the commissioner: Disposal of a highly toxic radioactive waste — which makes nuclear reactors not a totally clean energy source.

According to gao.gov, the nation has over 90,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel form commercial power plants. According to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Minnesota has spent nuclear waste stored in dry cask storage at its Prairie Island and Monticello nuclear plants. As of early 2024, Prairie Island has 50 casks of spent fuel and is approved for 15 more, while Monticello currently has 30 steel casks and has approval to add another 36

The U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for disposing of this high-level waste in permanent geologic repository, but has yet to build such a facility. This mainly is due to policy makers been at impasse over what to do with the nuclear waste. According to a Forbes magazine report, there are many challenges in finding ideal locations for storing the waste, including environmental and political roadblocks.

The Lyon County commissioners voted unanimously in favor signing the petition.

While we agree with the commissioners on seeking another source of energy is a noble motive, the nuclear waste issue was never discussed by the commissioners before voting to sign on with the resolution.

Nuclear energy spent fuel is like the big elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge exists. Like everything in politics, it’s just something else to kick down the road.