Prairie Island nuclear power plant

Prairie Island nuclear power plant in context

By gross operating capacity Prairie Island nuclear power plant is the 44th largest of 54 operating nuclear sites in the United States, holding 1% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 137th of 172 worldwide.

Its operating units started up between 1973 and 1974; the median unit is 52.5 years old, older than the median of 45.0 in the United States.

The 2 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 5.4 to 5.5 years (median 5.5) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1970s is 5.4 years.

The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Monticello nuclear power plant (124 km).

2 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit 1 -1.5% and Unit 2 -2.1%.

Build time by unit

Nearest tracked nuclear sites

How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.