150-764: Xcel Energy Inc. is a U.S. regulated electric utility and natural gas delivery company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota , serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers across parts of eight states (Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and New Mexico). It consists of four operating subsidiaries: Northern States Power-Minnesota, Northern States Power-Wisconsin, Public Service Company of Colorado, and Southwestern Public Service Co. In December 2018, Xcel Energy announced it would deliver 100 percent clean, carbon-free electricity by 2050, with an 80 percent carbon reduction by 2035 (from 2005 levels). This makes Xcel
300-648: A national historic district , and the upper St. Anthony lock and dam is permanently closed. Columnist Don Morrison says that after the milling era waned a "modern, major city" emerged. Around 1900, Minneapolis attracted skilled workers who leveraged expertise from the University of Minnesota. In 1923, Munsingwear was the world's largest manufacturer of underwear. Frederick McKinley Jones invented mobile refrigeration in Minneapolis, and with his associate founded Thermo King in 1938. In 1949, Medtronic
450-591: A renewable energy source. In 2015, about 96,000 people were enrolled in Windsource. In 2011, more than 2.3 million electric and 261,800 natural gas customers took part in Xcel Energy's energy efficiency programs for homes and businesses. Xcel Energy also offers customers incentives to install solar panels. At the end of 2011, more than 10,600 photovoltaic systems had been installed, with a capacity of about 121 megawatts (DC). In early 2011, Xcel Energy suspended
600-630: A 9-square-mile (23 km ) strip of land—coinciding with the sacred place of Dakota origin —on the Mississippi south of Saint Anthony Falls, with the agreement the US would build a military fort and trading post there and the Dakota would retain their usufructuary rights. In 1819, the US Army built Fort Snelling to direct Native American trade away from British-Canadian traders and to deter war between
750-495: A White Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. Reporting on the local reaction , The New York Times said that "over three nights, a five-mile stretch of Minneapolis sustained extraordinary damage" —destruction included a police station that demonstrators overran and set on fire. Floyd's murder sparked international rebellions, mass protests, and locally, years of ongoing unrest over racial injustice. As of 2024, protest continued daily at
900-610: A cash settlement. The company took responsibility for the deaths of five workers and the injuries to three. The parent company to Xcel Energy, and later Xcel Energy itself have operated the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant since 1973. Over that time, nuclear waste produced by the power plant has been stored adjacent to the Prairie Island Indian Community . The homes of some members of the community are within 600 yards of
1050-821: A center at the Northrup-King building, and it presents the Art-A-Whirl open studio tour every May. Minneapolis has hosted theatrical performances since the end of the American Civil War. Early theaters included Pence Opera House , the Academy of Music, Grand Opera House, Lyceum, and later the Metropolitan Opera House, which opened in 1894. Fifteen of the fifty-five Twin Cities theater companies counted in 2015 by Peg Guilfoyle had
1200-921: A combination of renewable energy, efficiency, and natural gas). On May 20, 2019, Xcel Energy announced its intent to close all of its remaining coal-fired plants in Minnesota by 2030 while compensating by increasing solar production capacity by 1,400%. It also declared its plans to continue operating its Monticello nuclear plant near Monticello, Minnesota until at least 2040. Xcel's Energy Capacity by Source Type 2023 Xcel Energy primarily provides energy from wind, natural gas, and coal. It has increased its share of carbon-free energy generation over time. Primarily by adding wind capacity. It has also lowered its greenhouse gas emissions by reducing coal consumption in favor of natural gas. Xcel plans to continue this trend by converting some coal plants to natural gas and closing others. Some environmental activists argue that Xcel
1350-465: A condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower . The water is then pumped back into the steam generator and the cycle begins again. The water-steam cycle corresponds to the Rankine cycle . The nuclear reactor is the heart of the station. In its central part, the reactor's core produces heat due to nuclear fission. With this heat,
1500-442: A coolant is heated as it is pumped through the reactor and thereby removes the energy from the reactor. The heat from nuclear fission is used to raise steam, which runs through turbines , which in turn power the electrical generators. Nuclear reactors usually rely on uranium to fuel the chain reaction. Uranium is a very heavy metal that is abundant on Earth and is found in sea water as well as most rocks. Naturally occurring uranium
1650-402: A facility has been completely decommissioned it is released from regulatory control, and the licensee of the station no longer has responsibility for its nuclear safety. Generally speaking, nuclear stations were originally designed for a life of about 30 years. Newer stations are designed for a 40 to 60-year operating life. The Centurion Reactor is a future class of nuclear reactor that
SECTION 10
#17327796730721800-524: A facility in economically depressed north Minneapolis, bringing jobs and good publicity. A University of Minnesota computing group released Gopher in 1991; three years later, the World Wide Web superseded Gopher traffic. In many ways, the 20th century in Minneapolis was a difficult time of bigotry and malfeasance, beginning with four decades of corruption. Known initially as a kindly physician, mayor Doc Ames made his brother police chief, ran
1950-482: A human-relations council that interceded on behalf of minorities. However, the lives of Black people had not been improved. In 1966 and 1967—years of significant turmoil across the US —suppressed anger among the Black population was released in two disturbances on Plymouth Avenue. Historian Iric Nathanson says young Blacks confronted police, arson caused property damage, and "random gunshots" caused minor injuries in what
2100-635: A large waterfall that eroded upriver past the confluence of the Mississippi River, where it left a 75-foot (23-meter) drop in the Mississippi. This site is located in what is now downtown Saint Paul. The new waterfall, later called Saint Anthony Falls, in turn, eroded up the Mississippi about eight miles (13 kilometers) to its present location, carving the Mississippi River gorge as it moved upstream. Minnehaha Falls also developed during this period via similar processes. Minneapolis
2250-498: A meeting of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature , leaders of east bank St. Anthony lost their bid to move the capital from Saint Paul, but they eventually won the state university. In 1856, the territorial legislature authorized Minneapolis as a town on the Mississippi's west bank. Minneapolis was incorporated as a city in 1867, and in 1872, it merged with St. Anthony. Minneapolis originated around
2400-433: A national trend, the metro area's next largest group after Christians is the 23-percent non-religious population. At the same time, more than 50 denominations and religions are present in Minneapolis, representing most of the world's religions. Temple Israel was built in 1928 by the city's first Jewish congregation, Shaarai Tov, which formed in 1878. By 1959, a Temple of Islam was located in north Minneapolis. In 1971,
2550-404: A nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water or gas, or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine . After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in
2700-483: A nuclear station is smaller than the fuel cost for operation of coal or gas plants. Since most of the cost of nuclear power plant is capital cost, there is almost no cost saving by running it at less than full capacity. Nuclear power plants are routinely used in load following mode on a large scale in France, although "it is generally accepted that this is not an ideal economic situation for nuclear stations". Unit A at
2850-516: A number of long-established projects are struggling to find financing, notably Belene in Bulgaria and the additional reactors at Cernavodă in Romania , and some potential backers have pulled out. Where cheap gas is available and its future supply relatively secure, this also poses a major problem for nuclear projects. Analysis of the economics of nuclear power must take into account who bears
3000-431: A physical site in Minneapolis. About half the remainder performed in variable spaces throughout the metropolitan area. Nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant ( NPP ), also known as a nuclear power station ( NPS ), nuclear generating station ( NGS ) or atomic power station ( APS ) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor . As is typical of thermal power stations, heat
3150-444: A previous goal aimed to reduce nuclear electricity generation share to lower than fifty percent by 2025, this target was postponed to 2035 in 2019 and ultimately discarded in 2023. Russia continues to export the most nuclear power plants in the world, with projects across various countries: as of July 2023, Russia was constructing 19 out of 22 reactors constructed by foreign vendors; however, some exporting projects were canceled due to
SECTION 20
#17327796730723300-594: A rate one-third that of White families. Statewide by 2022, the gap between White and Black home ownership declined from 51.5 percent to 48 percent. Statewide, alongside this small improvement was a sharp increase in the Black-to-White comparative number of deaths of despair (e.g., alcohol, drugs, and suicide). The Minneapolis income gap in 2018 was one of the largest in the country, with Black families earning about 44 percent of what White families earned annually. Statewide in 2022 using inflation-adjusted dollars,
3450-545: A reported 150 persons attended classes at a Hindu temple near the University of Minnesota. In 1972, the Twin Cities' first Shi'a Muslim family resettled from Uganda. Somalis who live in Minneapolis are primarily Sunni Muslim . In 2022, Minneapolis amended its noise ordinance to allow broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer five times per day. The city has about seven Buddhist centers and meditation centers. Early in
3600-454: A secret military Japanese-language school that trained interpreters and translators. Following World War II, some Japanese and Japanese Americans remained in Minneapolis, and by 1970, they numbered nearly 2,000, forming part of the state's largest Asian American community. In the 1950s, the US government relocated Native Americans to cities like Minneapolis, attempting to dismantle Indian reservations . Around 1970, Koreans arrived, and
3750-591: A significantly different evaluation of the economics of new nuclear power stations. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan , costs are likely to go up for currently operating and new nuclear power stations, due to increased requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats. However many designs, such as the currently under construction AP1000, use passive nuclear safety cooling systems, unlike those of Fukushima I which required active cooling systems, which largely eliminates
3900-413: A slight decrease from the 2653 TWh produced in 2021. Thirteen countries generated at least one-quarter of their electricity from nuclear sources. Notably, France relies on nuclear energy for about 70% of its electricity needs, while Ukraine , Slovakia , Belgium , and Hungary source around half their power from nuclear. Japan , which previously depended on nuclear for over a quarter of its electricity,
4050-427: A small enough volume to become supercritical. Most reactors require continuous temperature control to prevent a core meltdown , which has occurred on a few occasions through accident or natural disaster, releasing radiation and making the surrounding area uninhabitable. Plants must be defended against theft of nuclear material and attack by enemy military planes or missiles. The most serious accidents to date have been
4200-462: A source of energy: Saint Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi. Each of the city's two founding industries—flour and lumber milling—developed in the 19th century nearly concurrently, and each came to prominence for about fifty years. In 1884, the value of Minneapolis flour milling was the world's highest. In 1899, Minneapolis outsold every other lumber market in the world. Through its expanding mill industries, Minneapolis earned
4350-655: A subsidiary of PSCo since the 1920s, and had become an operating company of NCE after the merger with SPS. In December 2018, Xcel Energy became the first major US utility to pledge to go carbon-free , aiming for 80% carbon reduction by 2030, and 100% reduction by 2050. Utility industry magazine Utility Dive awarded Xcel Energy its 2018 "Utility of the Year" award for its plans for add 12 wind farms , its project with Google to develop new ways for customers to personalize energy management , and its plan to retire 50 percent of its coal-powered capacity by 2026 (and replacing it with
4500-482: A three-year research study of offshore floating nuclear power generation. In October 2022, NuScale Power and Canadian company Prodigy announced a joint project to bring a North American small modular reactor based floating plant to market. The economics of nuclear power plants is a controversial subject, and multibillion-dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source. Nuclear power stations typically have high capital costs, but low direct fuel costs, with
4650-580: A worldwide perspective, long-term waste storage costs are uncertain. Construction, or capital cost aside, measures to mitigate global warming such as a carbon tax or carbon emissions trading , increasingly favor the economics of nuclear power. Further efficiencies are hoped to be achieved through more advanced reactor designs, Generation III reactors promise to be at least 17% more fuel efficient, and have lower capital costs, while Generation IV reactors promise further gains in fuel efficiency and significant reductions in nuclear waste. In Eastern Europe,
Xcel Energy - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-594: Is 108 °F (42 °C) in July 1936 while the lowest is −41 °F (−41 °C) in January 1888. The snowiest winter on record was 1983–1984, when 98.6 in (250 cm) of snow fell. The least-snowy winter was 1930–1931, when 14.2 inches (36 cm) fell. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , the annual average for sunshine duration is 58 percent. The Minneapolis area
4950-589: Is a three-unit generating station that has become a model for the creative use of fuels: coal, waste wood, railroad ties, discarded tires, natural gas , and petroleum coke . Two of the three Bay Front operating units already use biomass as their primary fuel. Xcel Energy recently proposed a plan to install biomass gasification technology at Bay Front. The waste-to-energy facilities use waste that would otherwise end up in landfills . The Wisconsin waste-to-energy plant burns wood waste in combination with refuse-derived fuel (RDF). Electric power transmission refers to
5100-527: Is anticipated to resume similar levels of nuclear energy utilization. Over the last 15 years, the United States has seen a significant improvement in the operational performance of its nuclear power plants, enhancing their utilization and efficiency, adding the output equivalent to 19 new 1000 MWe reactors without actual construction. In France, nuclear power plants still produce over sixty percent of this country's total power generation in 2022. While
5250-503: Is being designed to last 100 years. One of the major limiting wear factors is the deterioration of the reactor's pressure vessel under the action of neutron bombardment, however in 2018 Rosatom announced it had developed a thermal annealing technique for reactor pressure vessels which ameliorates radiation damage and extends service life by between 15 and 30 years. Nuclear stations are used primarily for base load because of economic considerations. The fuel cost of operations for
5400-431: Is found in two different isotopes : uranium-238 (U-238), accounting for 99.3% and uranium-235 (U-235) accounting for about 0.7%. U-238 has 146 neutrons and U-235 has 143 neutrons. Different isotopes have different behaviors. For instance, U-235 is fissile which means that it is easily split and gives off a lot of energy making it ideal for nuclear energy. On the other hand, U-238 does not have that property despite it being
5550-477: Is home to the University of Minnesota 's main campus. The city's public transport is provided by Metro Transit , and the international airport, serving the Twin Cities region, is located towards the south on the city limits. Residents adhere to more than fifty religions. Despite its well-regarded quality of life, Minneapolis has stark disparities among its residents—arguably the most critical issue confronting
5700-582: Is known for cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. Nicknamed the "City of Lakes", Minneapolis is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes , wetlands, the Mississippi River , creeks, and waterfalls. The city's public park system is connected by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway . Dakota people originally inhabited the site of today's Minneapolis. European colonization and settlement began north of Fort Snelling along Saint Anthony Falls —the only natural waterfall on
5850-478: Is located in south-central Minneapolis on the 10-acre (4 ha) former homestead of the Morrison family. McKim, Mead & White designed a vast complex meeting the ambitions of the founders for a cultural center with spaces for sculpture, an art school, and orchestra. One-seventh of their design was built and opened in 1915. Additions by other firms from 1928 to 2006 achieved much of the original scheme. Today
6000-405: Is near the confluence of Minnehaha Creek with the Mississippi River. Sources disagree on the exact location and elevation of the city's highest point, which is cited as being between 967 and 985 feet (295 and 300 m) above sea level. Minneapolis has 83 neighborhoods and 70 neighborhood organizations. In some cases, two or more neighborhoods act together under one organization. Around 1990,
6150-403: Is not acting on plans to stop using coal plants fast enough. Xcel Energy owns and operates three wind farms. In October 2011, Xcel Energy set a world record for electricity from wind power, with an hourly penetration of 55.6% of production from wind. At peak generation wind is the largest source of energy capacity for Xcel. Xcel Energy owns and operates two nuclear power plants : and stores
Xcel Energy - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-676: Is run by the FS-ISAC Sector Services team; FS-ISAC is an organization that gathers cyber and physical risk intelligence for the financial services industry. Additionally, the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) manages the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which is another resource that the energy sector uses to gather threat intelligence. In 2016, Xcel Energy announced
6450-617: Is sited above an artesian aquifer and on flat terrain. Its total area is 59 square miles (152.8 square kilometers) of which six percent is covered by water. The city has a 12-mile (19 km) segment of the Mississippi River, four streams, and 17 waterbodies—13 of them lakes, with 24 miles (39 km) of lake shoreline. A 1959 report by the US Soil Conservation Service listed Minneapolis's elevation above mean sea level as 830 feet (250 meters). The city's lowest elevation of 687 feet (209 m) above sea level
6600-544: Is subcontracted to Quanta Infrastructure Services Group. Current timelines have most of the project being completed by 2027. Another proposal in Colorado involved nearly $ 3 billion in new investment. This was more than nine times the state budget and in addition to the budget for the Colorado Power Pathway program. Expanding the transmission infrastructure is important for adding new renewable systems to
6750-429: Is the only nuclear facility that does not use a natural body of water for cooling, instead it uses treated sewage from the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The water coming from the cooling body of water is either pumped back to the water source at a warmer temperature or returns to a cooling tower where it either cools for more uses or evaporates into water vapor that rises out the top of the tower. The water level in
6900-573: Is the state's most populous city as of the 2020 census . Located in the state's center near the eastern border, it occupies both banks of the Upper Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul , the state capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Twin Cities , a metropolitan area with 3.69 million residents. Minneapolis is built on an artesian aquifer on flat terrain and
7050-561: Is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity . As of September 2023 , the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that there were 410 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction. Building a nuclear power plant often spans five to ten years, which can accrue significant financial costs, depending on how
7200-578: The Minneapolis Spokesman led a year-long consumer boycott of four area breweries that refused to hire Blacks. Employment improved during World War II, but housing discrimination persisted. Between 1950 and 1970, the Black population in Minneapolis increased by 436 percent. After the Rust Belt economy declined in the 1980s, Black migrants were attracted to Minneapolis for its job opportunities, good schools, and safe neighborhoods. In
7350-711: The American Indian Movement (AIM) in Minneapolis. Begun as an alternative to public and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools , AIM's Heart of the Earth Survival School taught Native American traditions to children for nearly twenty years. A same-sex Minneapolis couple appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court but their marriage license was denied. They managed to get a license and marry in 1971, forty years before Minnesota legalized same-sex marriage . Immigration helped to curb
7500-489: The BWR , the steam is directed into the suppression chamber and condenses there. The chambers on a heat exchanger are connected to the intermediate cooling circuit. The main condenser is a large cross-flow shell and tube heat exchanger that takes wet vapor, a mixture of liquid water and steam at saturation conditions, from the turbine-generator exhaust and condenses it back into sub-cooled liquid water so it can be pumped back to
7650-704: The Gilded Age , the Walker Art Center began as a private art collection in the home of lumberman T. B. Walker , who extended free admission to the public. Around 1940, the center's focus shifted to modern and contemporary art. In partnership with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board , the Walker operates the adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden , which has about forty sculptures on view year-round. The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia)
SECTION 50
#17327796730727800-1255: The Human Rights Campaign gave Minneapolis 94 points out of 100 on the Municipal Equality Index of support for the LGBTQ+ population. Twin Cities Pride is held in May. Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th-largest city in the United States by population as of 2023. According to the 2020 US Census , Minneapolis had a population of 429,954. Of this population, 44,513 (10.4 percent) identified as Hispanic or Latinos . Of those not Hispanic or Latino, 249,581 persons (58.0 percent) were White alone (62.7 percent White alone or in combination), 81,088 (18.9 percent) were Black or African American alone (21.3 percent Black alone or in combination), 24,929 (5.8 percent) were Asian alone, 7,433 (1.2 percent) were American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 25,387 (0.6 percent) some other race alone, and 34,463 (5.2 percent) were multiracial . The most common ancestries in Minneapolis according to
7950-496: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Meanwhile, China continues to advance in nuclear energy: having 25 reactors under construction by late 2023, China is the country with the most reactors being built at one time in the world. Nuclear decommissioning is the dismantling of a nuclear power station and decontamination of the site to a state no longer requiring protection from radiation for the general public. The main difference from
8100-801: The Soviet Union . The world's first full scale power station, Calder Hall in the United Kingdom , opened on October 17, 1956 and was also meant to produce plutonium . The world's first full scale power station solely devoted to electricity production was the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania , United States, which was connected to the grid on December 18, 1957. The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal power stations. The fission in
8250-678: The UAE launched the Arab region's first-ever nuclear energy plant. Unit 1 of the Barakah plant in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi commenced generating heat on the first day of its launch, while the remaining 3 Units are being built. However, Nuclear Consulting Group head, Paul Dorfman, warned the Gulf nation's investment into the plant as a risk "further destabilizing the volatile Gulf region, damaging
8400-615: The 1700s, the Ojibwe (also known as Chippewa, members of the Anishinaabe nations). Dakota people have different stories to explain their creation. One widely accepted story says the Dakota emerged from Bdóte , the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers . Dakota are the only inhabitants of the Minneapolis area who claimed no other land; they have no traditions of having immigrated. In 1680, cleric Louis Hennepin , who
8550-807: The 1890s and 1900s, and Slovak and Czech immigrants settled in the Bohemian Flats area on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Ukrainians arrived after 1900, and Central European migrants made their homes in the Northeast neighborhood. Chinese began immigration in the 1870s and Chinese businesses centered on the Gateway District and Glenwood Avenue. Westminster Presbyterian Church gave language classes and support for Chinese Americans in Minneapolis, many of whom had fled discrimination in western states. Japanese Americans , many relocated from San Francisco, worked at Camp Savage ,
8700-424: The 1970s and 1980s, when it "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies," in some countries. Proponents argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source which reduces carbon emissions and can increase energy security if its use supplants a dependence on imported fuels. Proponents advance the notion that nuclear power produces virtually no air pollution, in contrast to
8850-485: The 1979 Three Mile Island accident , the 1986 Chernobyl disaster , and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , corresponding to the beginning of the operation of generation II reactors . Professor of sociology Charles Perrow states that multiple and unexpected failures are built into society's complex and tightly coupled nuclear reactor systems. Such accidents are unavoidable and cannot be designed around. An interdisciplinary team from MIT has estimated that given
9000-473: The 1990s, immigrants from the Horn of Africa began to arrive, from Eritrea , Ethiopia , and particularly Somalia . Immigration from Somalia slowed significantly following a 2017 national executive order . As of 2022, about 3,000 Ethiopians and 20,000 Somalis reside in Minneapolis . The Williams Institute reported that the Twin Cities had an estimated 4.2-percent LGBT adult population in 2020. In 2023,
9150-421: The 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) were German (22.9 percent), Irish (10.8 percent), Norwegian (8.9 percent), Subsaharan African (6.7 percent), and Swedish (6.1 percent). Among those five years and older, 81.2 percent spoke only English at home, while 7.1 percent spoke Spanish and 11.7 percent spoke other languages, including large numbers of Somali and Hmong speakers. About 13.7 percent of
SECTION 60
#17327796730729300-587: The 2024 city budget. In 2018, the Minneapolis City Council approved the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which resulted in a citywide end to single-family zoning . Slate reported that Minneapolis was the first major city in the US to make citywide such a revision in housing possibilities. At the time, 70 percent of residential land was zoned for detached, single-family homes, though many of those areas had "nonconforming" buildings with more housing units. City leaders sought to increase
9450-443: The 2040 plan, and declaring racism a public health emergency in 2020. Twin Cities residents are 70 percent Christian according to a Pew Research Center religious survey in 2014. Settlers who arrived in Minneapolis from New England were for the most part Protestants , Quakers , and Universalists . The oldest continuously used church, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church , was built in 1856 by Universalists and soon afterward
9600-727: The Advanced Grid Intelligence and Security (AGIS) initiative, a long-term effort related to power reliability, distributed generation, and information sharing with customers. Through the initiative, Xcel would build an "intelligent grid" in Colorado in order to improve grid security. The company filed a request for permission with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for the program, which would cost $ 500 million. Since 1998, Xcel Energy's Windsource program has allowed customers to designate that part or all of their electricity comes from
9750-572: The Brussels supplementary convention, and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage . However states with a majority of the world's nuclear power stations, including the U.S., Russia, China and Japan, are not party to international nuclear liability conventions. The nuclear power debate about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes peaked during
9900-439: The Dakota and Ojibwe in northern Minnesota. Under pressure from US officials in a series of treaties, the Dakota ceded their land first to the east and then to the west of the Mississippi, the river that runs through Minneapolis. Dakota leaders twice refused to sign the next treaty until they were paid for the previous one. In the decades following these treaty signings, the federal US government rarely honored their terms. At
10050-624: The Dakota were being expelled, Franklin Steele laid claim to the east bank of Saint Anthony Falls , and John H. Stevens built a home on the west bank. In the Dakota language , the city's name is Bde Óta Othúŋwe ('Many Lakes Town'). Residents had divergent ideas on names for their community. Charles Hoag proposed combining the Dakota word for 'water' ( mni ) with the Greek word for 'city' ( polis ), yielding Minneapolis . In 1851, after
10200-541: The Great Depression, the Citizens' Alliance , an association of employers, refused to negotiate with teamsters . The truck drivers union executed strikes in May and July–August. Charles Rumford Walker said that Minneapolis teamsters succeeded in part due to the "military precision of the strike machine". The union victory ultimately led to 1935 and 1938 federal laws protecting workers' rights. From
10350-584: The Indigenous population during the 19th century, they claimed the city's land, and Kirsten Delegard of Mapping Prejudice explains that today's disparities evolved from control of the land. Discrimination increased when flour milling moved to the East Coast and the economy declined. The foundation laid by racial covenants on residential segregation, property value, homeownership, wealth, housing security, access to green spaces, and health equity shapes
10500-565: The Minnesota River valley. After a kangaroo court , 38 Dakota men were hanged. The army force-marched 1,700 non-hostile Dakota men, women, children, and elders 150 miles (240 km) to a concentration camp at Fort Snelling . Minneapolitans reportedly threatened more than once to attack the camp. In 1863, the US "abrogated and annulled" all treaties with the Dakota. With Governor Alexander Ramsey calling for their extermination, most Dakota were exiled from Minnesota. While
10650-551: The Mississippi River. Location near the fort and the falls' power—with its potential for industrial activity—fostered the city's early growth. For a time in the 19th century, Minneapolis was the lumber and flour milling capital of the world, and as home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis , it has preserved its financial clout into the 21st century. A Minneapolis Depression-era labor strike brought about federal worker protections. Work in Minneapolis contributed to
10800-677: The Power for the Plains Initiative, Xcel Energy built hundreds of miles of transmission lines and substations totaling $ 3 billion in investment. The lines supply Kiowa NM, Lubbock TX, and connect other towns in the Texas panhandle. The transmission system is operated on a non-discriminatory basis under the open access requirements of the Federal Government . This means that all wholesale buyers and sellers of electricity can use
10950-434: The Twin Cities metropolitan area tied with Boston as having the eighth-highest concentration of major corporate headquarters in the US. Five Fortune 500 corporations were headquartered within the city limits of Minneapolis: Target Corporation , U.S. Bancorp , Xcel Energy , Ameriprise Financial , and Thrivent . The metro area's gross domestic product was $ 323.9 billion in 2022 ($ 337 billion in 2023). During
11100-562: The US and co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis , was named by Pope Pius XI in 1926. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was headquartered in Minneapolis from the 1950s until 2001. Christ Church Lutheran in the Longfellow neighborhood was the final work in the career of Eliel Saarinen , and it has an education building designed by his son Eero . Aligning with
11250-419: The US average of 11.1 percent. As of 2022, 90.8 percent of residents age 25 years or older had earned a high school degree compared to 89.1 percent nationally, and 53.5 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher compared to the 34.3 percent US national average. US veterans made up 2.8 percent of the population compared to the national average of 5 percent in 2023. In Minneapolis in 2020, Blacks owned homes at
11400-1034: The Washington County Light & Power Co. in 1909. When H. M. Byllesby began building his utility holding company across the Northwestern region of the US, he renamed it the Consumers Power Co. in 1910 and which was renamed the Northern States Power Co. in 1916. While the bulk of NSP's territory grew across central and southern Minnesota (starting from the Twin Cities), it acquired territory in North Dakota (centering on Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot) and extended southwest into South Dakota (centering on Sioux Falls). NSP's system also extended east into Wisconsin, but because of utility ownership laws in that state, it
11550-565: The beginning of the American Civil War, annuity payments owed in June 1862 to the Dakota by treaty were late, causing acute hunger among the Dakota. Facing starvation a faction of the Dakota declared war in August and killed settlers. Serving without any prior military experience, US commander Henry Sibley commanded raw recruits, volunteer mounted troops from Minneapolis and Saint Paul with no military experience. The war went on for six weeks in
11700-557: The chief viable alternative of fossil fuel. Proponents also believe that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve energy independence for most Western countries. They emphasize that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by using the latest technology in newer reactors, and the operational safety record in the Western world is excellent when compared to the other major kinds of power plants. Opponents say that nuclear power poses many threats to people and
11850-450: The city became more and more racially divided. Though such language was prohibited by state law in 1953 and by the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 , restrictive covenants against minorities remained in many Minneapolis deeds as of the 2020s. In 2021, the city gave residents a means to discharge them. Minneapolis has a history of structural racism and has racial disparities in nearly every aspect of society. As White settlers displaced
12000-539: The city in the 21st century. Governed by a mayor-council system, Minneapolis has a political landscape dominated by the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), with Jacob Frey serving as mayor since 2018. Two Indigenous nations inhabited the area now called Minneapolis. Archaeologists have evidence that since 1000 A.D., they were the Dakota (one half of the Sioux nation), and, after
12150-410: The city into crime, and tried to leave town in 1902. The Ku Klux Klan was a force in the city from 1921 until 1923. The gangster Kid Cann engaged in bribery and intimidation between the 1920s and the 1940s. After Minnesota passed a eugenics law in 1925, the proprietors of Eitel Hospital sterilized people at Faribault State Hospital . During the summer of 1934 and the financial downturn of
12300-615: The city of Roswell, New Mexico and its 2,000 residents. The financial strain of creating this new enterprise soon overwhelmed him and he sold the franchise to W.H. Gillenwater, who named his utility the Roswell Electric Light Co. He later sold the company to an investment firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which already owned the Roswell Gas Co. Northern States Power Company's timeline begins with the organization of
12450-609: The city set up the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), in which every one of the city's eighty-some neighborhoods participated. Funded for 20 years through 2011, with $ 400 million tax increment financing ($ 542 million in 2023), the program caught the eye of UN-Habitat , who considered it an example of best practices . Residents had a direct connection to government in NRP, whereby they proposed ideas appropriate for their area, and NRP reviewed
12600-493: The city's defining physical characteristic. Long periods of glaciation and interglacial melt carved several riverbeds through what is now Minneapolis. During the last glacial period , around 10,000 years ago, ice buried in these ancient river channels melted, resulting in basins that filled with water to become the lakes of Minneapolis . Meltwater from Lake Agassiz fed the Glacial River Warren , which created
12750-497: The city's history, millers were required to pay for wheat with cash during the growing season and then to store the wheat until it was needed for flour. The Minneapolis Grain Exchange was founded in 1881; located near the riverfront, it is the only exchange as of 2023 for hard red spring wheat futures . Along with cash requirements for the milling industry, the large amounts of capital that lumbering had accumulated stimulated
12900-421: The city's mid-20th century population decline. But because of a few radicalized persons, the city's large Somali population was targeted with discrimination after 9/11 , when its hawalas or banks were closed. In 2020, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier recorded the murder of George Floyd ; Frazier's video contradicted the police department's initial statement. Floyd, a Black man, suffocated when Derek Chauvin ,
13050-470: The collection of more than 90,000 artworks spans six continents and about 5,000 years. Frank Gehry designed Weisman Art Museum , which opened in 1993, for the University of Minnesota . A 2011 addition by Gehry doubled the size of the galleries. The Museum of Russian Art opened in a restored church in 2005, and it hosts a collection of 20th-century Russian art and special events. The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District hosts 400 independent artists and
13200-576: The combined risk of the temporary design of the storage facility, unpredictable flooding and single evacuation road in the event nuclear waste is released from containment. Xcel Energy faces more than 200 lawsuits filed by victims of the Marshall Fire , which started on December 30, 2021, Boulder County, and spread across Superior and Louisville counties in Colorado. Two people died and more than 1,000 homes and commercial properties were destroyed, resulting in more than $ 2 billion in property damage. It
13350-669: The company merged with SPS to form New Century Energies ( NCE ) in 1995. Northern States Power and Wisconsin Energy Corporation had planned to merge into a new outfit that was to be called Primergy - but in 1997, the merger fell through because of the time it was taking to gain the required approvals from state and federal agencies. After the failed Primergy merger, NSP (both the Minnesota and Wisconsin companies) merged with New Century Energies to form Xcel Energy. In 2005, Xcel sold Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power to Black Hills Corporation . Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power had been
13500-676: The computing industry, and the city is the birthplace of General Mills , the Pillsbury brand, Target Corporation , and Thermo King mobile refrigeration. The city's major arts institutions include the Minneapolis Institute of Art , the Walker Art Center , and the Guthrie Theater . Four professional sports teams play downtown. Prince is survived by his favorite venue, the First Avenue nightclub . Minneapolis
13650-493: The costs of fuel extraction, processing, use and spent fuel storage internalized costs. Therefore, comparison with other power generation methods is strongly dependent on assumptions about construction timescales and capital financing for nuclear stations. Cost estimates take into account station decommissioning and nuclear waste storage or recycling costs in the United States due to the Price Anderson Act . With
13800-424: The destruction of a turbine in operation from flying towards the reactor. In the case of a pressurized water reactor, the steam turbine is separated from the nuclear system. To detect a leak in the steam generator and thus the passage of radioactive water at an early stage, an activity meter is mounted to track the outlet steam of the steam generator. In contrast, boiling water reactors pass radioactive water through
13950-458: The dismantling of other power stations is the presence of radioactive material that requires special precautions to remove and safely relocate to a waste repository. Decommissioning involves many administrative and technical actions. It includes all clean-up of radioactivity and progressive demolition of the station. Once a facility is decommissioned, there should no longer be any danger of a radioactive accident or to any persons visiting it. After
14100-562: The end of World War I in 1918 until 1950, antisemitism was commonplace in Minneapolis— Carey McWilliams called the city the antisemitic capital of the US. Starting in 1936, a fascist hate group known as the Silver Shirts held meetings in the city. In the 1940s, mayor Hubert Humphrey worked to rescue the city's reputation and helped the city establish the country's first municipal fair employment practices and
14250-534: The energy-intensive stages of the nuclear fuel chain are considered, from uranium mining to nuclear decommissioning , nuclear power is not a low-carbon electricity source despite the possibility of refinement and long-term storage being powered by a nuclear facility. Those countries that do not contain uranium mines cannot achieve energy independence through existing nuclear power technologies. Actual construction costs often exceed estimates, and spent fuel management costs are difficult to define. On 1 August 2020,
14400-402: The environment and raising the possibility of nuclear proliferation." Nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gases during operation. Older nuclear power plants, like ones using second-generation reactors , produce approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide during the whole life cycle of nuclear power plants for an average of about 11g/kWh, as much power generated by wind , which
14550-775: The environment, and that costs do not justify benefits. Threats include health risks and environmental damage from uranium mining , processing and transport, the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation or sabotage, and the problem of radioactive nuclear waste . Another environmental issue is discharge of hot water into the sea. The hot water modifies the environmental conditions for marine flora and fauna. They also contend that reactors themselves are enormously complex machines where many things can and do go wrong, and there have been many serious nuclear accidents . Critics do not believe that these risks can be reduced through new technology , despite rapid advancements in containment procedures and storage methods. Opponents argue that when all
14700-411: The environment. In addition, many reactors are equipped with a dome of concrete to protect the reactor against both internal casualties and external impacts. The purpose of the steam turbine is to convert the heat contained in steam into mechanical energy. The engine house with the steam turbine is usually structurally separated from the main reactor building. It is aligned so as to prevent debris from
14850-525: The expected growth of nuclear power from 2005 to 2055, at least four serious nuclear accidents would be expected in that period. The MIT study does not take into account improvements in safety since 1970. Nuclear power works under an insurance framework that limits or structures accident liabilities in accordance with the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy ,
15000-689: The falls. Lumbering's decline began around the turn of the century, and sawmills in the city including the Weyerhauser mill closed by 1919. After depleting Minnesota's white pine, some lumbermen moved on to Douglas fir in the Pacific Northwest . In 1877, Cadwallader C. Washburn co-founded Washburn-Crosby, the company that became General Mills . Washburn and partner John Crosby sent Austrian civil engineer William de la Barre to Hungary where he acquired innovations through industrial espionage . De la Barre calculated and managed
15150-591: The first Filipinos came to attend the University of Minnesota . Vietnamese , Hmong (some from Thailand ), Lao , and Cambodians settled mainly in Saint Paul around 1975, but some built organizations in Minneapolis. In 1992, 160 Tibetan immigrants came to Minnesota, and many settled in the city's Whittier neighborhood. Burmese immigrants arrived in the early 2000s, with some moving to Greater Minnesota . The population of people from India in Minneapolis increased by 1,000 between 2000 and 2010, making it
15300-535: The first major US utility to set such a goal. Xcel Energy was built on three companies: Minneapolis-based Northern States Power Company (NSP), Denver-based Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), and Amarillo-based Southwestern Public Service (SPS). Southwestern Public Service Co. (SPS) dates its origins to 1904 and the Pecos Valley in New Mexico when Maynard Gunsell received an electricity franchise for
15450-779: The grid. However the cost can be significant. Colorado regulators did not approve Xcel's plan to build additional transmission in Baca County which is a large potential wind energy generator. Instead, they sought proposals that involve constructing renewable energy sources connected to the existing grid. In Minnesota, the budget for a new 465 mile transmission line doubled to $ 1.14 billion and Xcel cited inflationary pressures. Opponents of Colorado's Power Pathway Program highlighted that cost overruns in transmission construction will be pushed to consumers. The Federal Energy Information Administration stated in 2023 that transmission lines typically cost $ 1.17 million to $ 8.62 million per mile. Under
15600-484: The high voltage power lines for long distance transport of electric energy. Xcel Energy owns and operates 110,000 miles of such lines. Xcel has proposed significant plans for updating its transmission system with a budget of $ 7.4 billion from 2022-2027. The Colorado Power Pathway, approved by regulators in 2022, gives Xcel $ 1.7 billion to expand transmission infrastructure in eastern Colorado. One proposal in Colorado involved nearly $ 3 billion in new investment. Construction
15750-406: The hot coolant is used as a heat source for a boiler, and the pressurized steam from that drives one or more steam turbine driven electrical generators . In the event of an emergency, safety valves can be used to prevent pipes from bursting or the reactor from exploding. The valves are designed so that they can derive all of the supplied flow rates with little increase in pressure. In the case of
15900-467: The housing disparities created the educational disparities that we still live with today." Professor Samuel Myers Jr. says of redlining , "Policing policies evolved that substituted explicit racial profiling with scientific management of racially disparate arrests. ... racially discriminatory policies became institutionalized and 'baked in' to the fabric of Minnesota life." Government efforts to address these disparities included zoning changes passed in
16050-517: The initial investments are financed. Because of this high construction cost and lower operations, maintenance, and fuel costs, nuclear plants are usually used for base load generation, because this maximizes the hours over which the fixed cost of construction can be amortized. Nuclear power plants have a carbon footprint comparable to that of renewable energy such as solar farms and wind farms , and much lower than fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal . Nuclear power plants are among
16200-481: The intersection where Floyd died, now known as George Floyd Square , with the slogan "No justice, no street". Minneapolis gathered ideas for the square and through community engagement promised final proposals for the end of 2024, that could be implemented by 2026 or thereafter. Protesters continued to ask for twenty-four reforms—many now met; a sticking point was ending qualified immunity for police. The history and economic growth of Minneapolis are linked to water,
16350-569: The largest concentration of Indians living in the state. The population of Minneapolis grew until 1950 when the census peaked at 521,718—the only time it has exceeded a half million. The population then declined for decades; after World War II, people moved to the suburbs and generally out of the Midwest. By 1930, Minneapolis had one of the nation's highest literacy rates among Black residents. However, discrimination prevented them from obtaining higher-paying jobs. In 1935, Cecil Newman and
16500-598: The largest wildfire in Texas History, burning more than 1 million acres and resulting in at least two deaths and extensive property damage and livestock losses. An investigation by the Texas A&M Forest Service found that power lines ignited the fire. Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in and the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota , United States. With a population of 429,954, it
16650-517: The lives of people in the 21st century. The city wrote in a decennial plan that racially discriminatory federal housing policies starting in the 1930s "prevented access to mortgages in areas with Jews, African-Americans and other minorities" and "left a lasting effect on the physical characteristics of the city and the financial well-being of its residents". Discussing a Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis report on how systemic racism compromises education in Minnesota, Professor Keith Mayes says, "So
16800-756: The local banking industry and made Minneapolis a major financial center. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis serves Minnesota, Montana , North and South Dakota , and parts of Wisconsin and Michigan ; it has the smallest population of the twelve districts in the Federal Reserve System , and it has one branch in Helena, Montana . Minneapolis area employment is primarily in trade, transportation, utilities, education, health services, and professional and business services. Smaller numbers of residents are employed in government, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, and financial activities. In 2022,
16950-499: The median income for a Black family was $ 34,377 less than a White family's median income, an improvement of $ 7,000 since 2019. Before 1910, when a developer wrote the first restrictive covenant based on race and ethnicity into a Minneapolis deed, the city was relatively unsegregated with a Black population of less than one percent. Realtors adopted the practice, thousands of times preventing non-Whites from owning or leasing properties; this practice continued for four decades until
17100-607: The need to spend more on redundant back up safety equipment. According to the World Nuclear Association , as of March 2020: The Russian state nuclear company Rosatom is the largest player in international nuclear power market, building nuclear plants around the world. Whereas Russian oil and gas were subject to international sanctions after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rosatom
17250-681: The nickname "Mill City". Due to the occupational hazards of milling, six companies manufactured artificial limbs. Disasters struck in the late 19th century: the Eastman tunnel under the river leaked in 1869; twice, fire destroyed the entire row of sawmills on the east bank; an explosion of flour dust at the Washburn A mill killed eighteen people and demolished about half the city's milling capacity; and in 1893, fire spread from Nicollet Island to Boom Island to northeast Minneapolis, destroyed twenty blocks, and killed two people. The lumber industry
17400-483: The now decommissioned German Biblis Nuclear Power Plant was designed to modulate its output 15% per minute between 40% and 100% of its nominal power. Russia has led in the practical development of floating nuclear power stations , which can be transported to the desired location and occasionally relocated or moved for easier decommissioning. In 2022, the United States Department of Energy funded
17550-676: The nuclear waste containment site. The island is very vulnerable to seasonal flooding because it is on the bank of the Mississippi River . While in 1991, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission capped the storage of nuclear waste on the island to 17 casks, the legislature has since permitted this number to increase. Environmentalists and members of the Prairie Island Indian Community have been working since 1994 to have this nuclear waste transported away from their reservation due to
17700-704: The plan, and then securing its survival. Ultimately in 2024, the state legislature passed a bill approving the city's 2040 plan. Minneapolis experiences a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa in the Köppen climate classification ) that is typical of southern parts of the Upper Midwest ; it is situated in USDA plant hardiness zone 5a. The Minneapolis area experiences a full range of precipitation and related weather events, including snow, sleet, ice, rain, thunderstorms, and fog. The highest recorded temperature
17850-588: The plans and provided implementation funds. The city's Neighborhood and Community Relations department took NRP's place in 2011 and is funded only by city revenue. In 2019, the city released the Neighborhoods 2020 program, which reworked neighborhood funding with an equity-focused lens. This reduced guaranteed funding, and several neighborhood organizations have since struggled with operations or merged with other neighborhoods due to decreased revenue. Base funding for every neighborhood organization increased in
18000-511: The population was born abroad , with 53.2 percent of them being naturalized US citizens . Most immigrants arrived from Africa (40.6 percent), Latin America (25.2 percent), and Asia (24.6 percent), with 34.6 percent of all foreign-born residents having arrived in 2010 or earlier. Comparable to the US average of $ 70,784 in 2021, the ACS reported that the 2021 median household income in Minneapolis
18150-418: The power at the falls and encouraged steam for auxiliary power. Charles Alfred Pillsbury and the C. A. Pillsbury Company across the river hired Washburn-Crosby employees and began using the new methods. The hard red spring wheat grown in Minnesota became valuable, and Minnesota "patent" flour was recognized at the time as the best bread flour in the world. In 1900, fourteen percent of America's grain
18300-474: The prospect that all spent nuclear fuel could potentially be recycled by using future reactors, generation IV reactors are being designed to completely close the nuclear fuel cycle . However, up to now, there has not been any actual bulk recycling of waste from a NPP, and on-site temporary storage is still being used at almost all plant sites due to construction problems for deep geological repositories . Only Finland has stable repository plans, therefore from
18450-427: The reactor by the condensate and feedwater pumps. In the main condenser, the wet vapor turbine exhaust come into contact with thousands of tubes that have much colder water flowing through them on the other side. The cooling water typically come from a natural body of water such as a river or lake. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station , located in the desert about 97 kilometres (60 mi) west of Phoenix, Arizona,
18600-540: The risks of future uncertainties. To date all operating nuclear power stations were developed by state-owned or regulated utilities where many of the risks associated with construction costs, operating performance, fuel price, and other factors were borne by consumers rather than suppliers. Many countries have now liberalized the electricity market where these risks and the risk of cheaper competitors emerging before capital costs are recovered, are borne by station suppliers and operators rather than consumers, which leads to
18750-510: The river's west bank included woolen mills, iron works, a railroad machine shop, and mills for cotton, paper, sashes, and wood-planing. Minneapolis supplied the materials for farmsteads and settlement of rapidly expanding cities on the prairies that lacked wood. White pine milled in Minneapolis built Miles City, Montana ; Bismarck, North Dakota ; Sioux Falls, South Dakota ; Omaha, Nebraska ; and Wichita, Kansas . Growing use of steam power freed lumbermen and their sawmills from dependence on
18900-660: The safest modes of electricity generation, comparable to solar and wind power plants. The first time that heat from a nuclear reactor was used to generate electricity was on December 21, 1951, at the Experimental Breeder Reactor I , powering four light bulbs. On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity for a power grid , the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant , commenced operations in Obninsk , in
19050-407: The same element. Different isotopes also have different half-lives . U-238 has a longer half-life than U-235, so it takes longer to decay over time. This also means that U-238 is less radioactive than U-235. Since nuclear fission creates radioactivity, the reactor core is surrounded by a protective shield. This containment absorbs radiation and prevents radioactive material from being released into
19200-506: The second half of the 20th century. Between 1958 and 1963, Minneapolis demolished " skid row ". Gone were 35 acres (10 ha) with more than 200 buildings, or roughly 40 percent of downtown, including the Gateway District and its significant architecture such as the Metropolitan Building . Opened in 1967, I-35W displaced Black and Mexican neighborhoods in south Minneapolis. In 1968, relocated Native Americans founded
19350-529: The solar rebate program before reaching a settlement a month later with representatives of solar power companies to restore the solar incentive program until it is fully reviewed by the Public Utilities Commission. On August 1, 2002, Xcel Energy Inc. was sued because of engaging in "round-trip" energy trades that provided no economic benefit for the company, and because the company lacked the necessary internal controls to adequately monitor
19500-558: The spent fuel from these nuclear plants on site in independent spent fuel storage installations. (ISFSIs). Biomass electricity comes from organic fuel sources. Xcel Energy has contracts for about 110 megawatts of electricity from biomass generators. Two in northern Minnesota are fueled by forest harvest residue, such as treetops and limbs. A third facility, brought on line in 2007 in western Minnesota, generates power using turkey litter. Xcel Energy's Bay Front plant in Ashland, Wisconsin ,
19650-693: The steam generator and the nuclear reactor is controlled using the feedwater system. The feedwater pump has the task of taking the water from the condensate system, increasing the pressure and forcing it into either the steam generators—in the case of a pressurized water reactor — or directly into the reactor, for boiling water reactors . Continuous power supply to the plant is critical to ensure safe operation. Most nuclear stations require at least two distinct sources of offsite power for redundancy. These are usually provided by multiple transformers that are sufficiently separated and can receive power from multiple transmission lines. In addition, in some nuclear stations,
19800-487: The steam turbine, so the turbine is kept as part of the radiologically controlled area of the nuclear power station. The electric generator converts mechanical power supplied by the turbine into electrical power. Low-pole AC synchronous generators of high rated power are used. A cooling system removes heat from the reactor core and transports it to another area of the station, where the thermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or to do other useful work. Typically
19950-690: The supply of housing so more neighborhoods would be affordable and to decrease the effects single-family zoning had caused on racial disparities and segregation. The Brookings Institution called it "a relatively rare example of success for the YIMBY agenda". From 2022 until 2024, the Minnesota Supreme Court , the US District Court , and the Minnesota Court of Appeals arrived at competing opinions, first shutting down
20100-589: The trading of its power. Xcel paid $ 80,000,000 in a settlement. The Cabin Creek Fire occurred on October 2, 2007, at Xcel Energy's Hydropower Generation plant in Georgetown, Colorado . On June 1, 2011, Federal prosecutors opened their charges that Xcel Energy was criminally liable for the deaths of the five RPI workers. The jury found Xcel Energy not guilty. On December 19, 2011, RPI Coating plead guilty to workplace safety violations and paid $ 1.55 million in
20250-610: The transmission system under the same terms and conditions used to serve Xcel Energy's own retail customers. In 2017, Xcel Energy partnered with the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center to create a new "threat information sharing community" intended to share cyber and physical security intelligence with the energy sector. The new community is called the Energy Analytic Security Exchange (EASE). It
20400-477: The turbine generator can power the station's loads while the station is online, without requiring external power. This is achieved via station service transformers which tap power from the generator output before they reach the step-up transformer. Nuclear power plants generate approximately 10% of global electricity, sourced from around 440 reactors worldwide. They are recognized as a significant provider of low-carbon electricity , accounting for about one-quarter of
20550-663: The turn of the 21st century, Latinos were the state's largest and fastest-growing immigrant group. Immigrants from Sweden , Norway , and Denmark found common ground with the Republican and Protestant belief systems of the New England migrants who preceded them. Irish , Scots , and English immigrants arrived after the Civil War; Germans and Jews from Central and Eastern Europe , as well as Russia , followed. Minneapolis welcomed Italians and Greeks in
20700-459: The world's supply in this category. As of 2020, nuclear power stood as the second-largest source of low-carbon energy, making up 26% of the total. Nuclear power facilities are active in 32 countries or regions, and their influence extends beyond these nations through regional transmission grids, especially in Europe. In 2022, nuclear power plants generated 2545 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity,
20850-436: Was $ 69,397 ($ 78,030 in 2023), It was $ 97,670 for families, $ 123,693 for married couples, and $ 54,083 for non-family households. In 2023, the median Minneapolis rent was $ 1,529, compared to the national median of $ 1,723. Over 92 percent of housing units in Minneapolis were occupied. Housing units in the city built in 1939 or earlier comprised 43.7 percent. Almost 17 percent of residents lived in poverty in 2023, compared to
21000-461: Was a "relatively minor incident" in Minneapolis compared to the loss of life and property in similar incidents in Detroit and Newark. A coalition reached a peaceful outcome but again failed to solve Black poverty and unemployment. In the wake of unrest and voter backlash, Charles Stenvig , a law-and-order candidate, became mayor in 1969, and governed for almost a decade. Disparate events defined
21150-548: Was acquired by a French Catholic congregation. St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral was founded in 1887; it opened a missionary school and in 1905 created a Russian Orthodox seminary. Edwin Hawley Hewitt designed St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral and Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church , both of which are located south of downtown. The nearby Basilica of Saint Mary , the first basilica in
21300-468: Was built around forests in northern Minnesota, largely by lumbermen emigrating from Maine 's depleting forests. The region's waterways were used to transport logs well after railroads developed; the Mississippi River carried logs to St. Louis until the early 20th century. In 1871, of the thirteen mills sawing lumber in St. Anthony, eight ran on water power, and five ran on steam power. Auxiliary businesses on
21450-551: Was concealed from the public until then. Xcel estimated the leak to be 400 thousand gallons of contaminated water containing radioactive tritium . The leak occurred in a water pipe that runs between two buildings. Following the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle, which began February 26, 2024, Xcel Energy acknowledged that its facilities played a role in the ignition of the fire. The fire became
21600-592: Was founded in a Minneapolis garage. Minneapolis-Honeywell built a south Minneapolis campus where their experience regulating control systems earned them military contracts for the Norden bombsight and the C-1 autopilot . In 1957, Control Data began in downtown Minneapolis, where in the CDC 1604 computer they replaced vacuum tubes with transistors . A highly successful business until disbanded in 1990, Control Data opened
21750-514: Was milled in Minneapolis and about one third of that was shipped overseas. Overall production peaked at 18.5 million barrels in 1916. Decades of soil exhaustion , stem rust , and changes in freight tariffs combined to quash the city's flour industry. In the 1920s, Washburn-Crosby and Pillsbury developed new milling centers in Buffalo, New York , and Kansas City, Missouri , while maintaining their headquarters in Minneapolis. The falls became
21900-477: Was not targeted by sanctions. However, some countries, especially in Europe, scaled back or cancelled planned nuclear power plants that were to be built by Rosatom. Modern nuclear reactor designs have had numerous safety improvements since the first-generation nuclear reactors. A nuclear power plant cannot explode like a nuclear weapon because the fuel for uranium reactors is not enriched enough, and nuclear weapons require precision explosives to force fuel into
22050-650: Was operated as an entity separate from the rest of the company. Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) was formed in 1923 to provide an electric generating station for the Denver area. By 1924, it had acquired most of the electric companies in northern and central Colorado. Originally a subsidiary of Cities Service Company , it became an independent autonomous operation in November 1943. By this time, it served 80 percent of Colorado's gas and electricity needs. As demand for energy continued to grow, so did PSCo. Eventually,
22200-733: Was originally occupied by Dakota bands, particularly the Mdewakanton , until European Americans moved westward. In the 1840s, new settlers arrived from Maine , New Hampshire , and Massachusetts , while French-Canadians came around the same time. Farmers from Illinois , Indiana , Ohio , and Pennsylvania followed in a secondary migration. Settlers from New England had an outsized influence on civic life. Mexican migrant workers began coming to Minnesota as early as 1860, although few stayed year-round. Latinos eventually settled in several neighborhoods in Minneapolis, including Phillips , Whittier , Longfellow and Northeast . Before
22350-457: Was probably the first European to see the Minneapolis waterfall the Dakota people call Owámniyomni , renamed it the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua for his patron saint. In the space of sixty years, the US seized all of the Dakota land and forced them out of their homeland. Purchasing most of modern-day Minneapolis, Zebulon Pike made the 1805 Treaty of St. Peter with the Dakota. Pike bought
22500-506: Was the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. The official investigation blamed the fire on a loose wire owned by Xcel and a week-old fire started by members of the Twelve Tribes that was smoldering. On March 16, 2023, Xcel Energy announced that a significant unplanned release of radioactive water from its Monticello nuclear power plant took place on November 21, 2022, which was reported only to state and federal authorities but
#71928