The Prairie Island Indian Community of Minnesota entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to address issues at a nuclear facility next to the reservation.

The NRC says it will consider the tribe's environmental concerns as it considers renewing the license for the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant. The license expires in October 2013.

“This agreement is unique and marks a significant step in NRC’s effort to enhance government-to-government consultations with federally recognized Native American tribes," Mark Satorius, the director of the NRC’s Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, said in a press release.

The facility sits 600 yards from the reservation and has been storing radioactive nuclear waste on site on a "temporary" basis for decades. The tribe recently won a court case that said the NRC failed to examine the environmental impacts of "temporary" storage.

Get the Story:
NRC signs deal to work with Prairie Island tribe (AP 10/16)
Xcel runs into nuclear economics (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 10/14)

DC Circuit Decision:
New York v. NRC (June 8, 2012)

Related Stories:
Prairie Island Indian Community raises nuclear waste concerns (9/4)
Prairie Island Indian Community concerned about nuclear plant (8/15)
Editorial: Nuclear waste storage problem deserves a new solution (7/5)
Prairie Island Indian Community wins a ruling on nuclear waste (6/11)
Editorial: Prairie Island Tribe lives in shadow of nuclear threat (1/12)