MPR’s Michael Khoo talks with All Things Considered host Lorna Benson about a Minnesota legislative plan that extends nuclear waste storage at Xcel Energy's Prairie Island plant. The proposal is meant to keep the facility operating through 2014, but has run into objections from environmental advocates. Critics say it lacks a strong commitment to renewable energy alternatives and provides no explicit role for lawmakers in future nuclear waste storage debates.

Virtually all lawmakers have accepted that Prairie Island will be granted additional nuclear waste storage capacity, keeping it open for another ten years or so. But a key disagreement revolves around who would have authority to approve storage beyond that point.