# Monticello license-renewal hearing *An event: a hearing on extending the license of the Monticello plant by twenty years, at which an NRC health physicist characterized the amount of tritium.* The **Monticello license-renewal hearing** was a hearing on extending the license of the plant at [[Monticello]] by twenty years. The project's at-issue record places it in March 2023, in the same week the tritium leak became public. That record states that an NRC health physicist told the hearing the tritium amount was "negligible."[^1] Nine months later, on 14 December 2023, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) fined [[Xcel Energy]] $14,000 for unpermitted tritiated-water storage tanks at Monticello.[^2] The record assembled here does not include a hearing transcript, a federal decision on the renewal, or any filing that connects the two events.[^1][^2] ## When - **March 2023.** MPR News reporting, as recorded in the project's at-issue file, states that an NRC health physicist testifying at the renewal hearing called the amount of tritium "negligible." The physicist likened it to the radiation in an exit sign. The hearing took place in the same week the tritium leak became public.[^1] - **14 December 2023.** The MPCA took final enforcement action against Xcel Energy. It fined the company $14,000 for unpermitted tritiated-water storage tanks at Monticello.[^2] ## In the at-issue record The pair (AI-Humphrey-059, Humphrey package) rests on a single news source, mprnews.org. That source's URL is not among this article's citable sources, so the account of the testimony is attributed rather than stated as settled.[^1] The pair's federal anchor is a May 2025 presidential action ordering reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The project's record summarizes the order's premise as being that the [[Commission]]'s posture toward its licensees requires reform.[^3] Set side by side, the hearing statement and the state penalty run in this sequence. In March 2023 a federal health physicist described the tritium amount as "negligible." In December 2023 a state agency issued a final penalty against the plant's operator for unpermitted tritiated-water storage at the same site.[^1][^2] The record shows both statements and their dates. It does not establish whether the hearing statement and the storage-tank violation concerned the same tritium.[^1][^2] ## Notes [^1]: Project at-issue record AI-Humphrey-059, from *Wright Claims Exposure Matrix* (2026-09-02), row W3 — records the March 2023 hearing testimony (the "negligible" characterization and the exit-sign comparison) and the twenty-year license extension. Its only source is mprnews.org reporting, which is not citable here. The URL below is the record's federal anchor, not a source for the testimony. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ordering-the-reform-of-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission/ [^2]: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, *News and stories* (index page; enforcement dated 2023-12-14, as recorded in *Wright Claims Exposure Matrix*, row E6) — final state enforcement fining Xcel Energy $14,000 for unpermitted tritiated-water storage tanks at Monticello. https://www.pca.state.mn.us/news-and-stories [^3]: Executive Office of the President, *Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission* (May 2025) — presidential action on reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; federal anchor of at-issue record AI-Humphrey-059. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ordering-the-reform-of-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission/