Elk River Nuclear Reactor in Minnesota

Podcast: The Innovation Attorney Podcast · The Innovation Attorney

Opublikowano: 2026-10-11

The Elk River nuclear reactor in Minnesota ended operation in January 1968 after vessel cracks appeared, and the Atomic Energy Commission spent about $6.15 million to dismantle it by 1974. The plant had run for about 2.5 effective full power years. The repair bill was larger than anyone would pay for a demonstration plant. Its decommissioning record is one of the earliest complete cost datasets for a small power reactor in the United States, and developers of microreactors are about to pay for the lessons it contains. The plant was a 22 megawatt boiling water reactor about 30 miles northwest of Minneapolis. A...