Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) executives told financial analysts Thursday that the recent radioactive water leak at a nuclear plant will not result in a material hit to earnings.
CEO Bob Frenzel said during the company’s quarterly conference call with analysts that the costs to repair two water leaks since last November “were not significant.” Xcel has estimated the costs to be about $2 million.
A pipe broke at Xcel’s Monticello Nuclear Generating Station last year, leading to a leak of more than 400,000 gallons of tritium-laced water. The company and state regulators did not disclose the leak until March.
Xcel patched the leak but discovered a second, smaller leak in March during a refueling outage. It has been pumping out the water and tritium from an aquifer under the plant, a process that is not expected to end until later this year or early next year.
“There was no risk to people or the plant,” Frenzel said. “It’s really about pumping water out. I expect they probably have two more weeks before they finish loading fuel and restarting the plant, but it is ready to go.”
Minneapolis-based Xcel reported first-quarter earnings Thursday of $418 million ($0.76/share), compared to $380 million ($0.70/share) over the same period last year. Earnings reflected the recovery of electric and natural gas infrastructure investments and other regulatory outcomes, partially offset by higher depreciation, operations and maintenance expenses, and interest charges.
Frenzel told analysts that Xcel continues to make progress on its clean energy transition plans. The company is reviewing proposals for 6 GW of new generation in its various jurisdictions and anticipates regulatory decisions on the proceedings in the latter half of the year.
Xcel has also submitted multiple projects to the U.S. Department of Energy for funding consideration, including hydrogen hubs in the Midwest and West, and grid resilience investments in Colorado.
The company’s share price closed at $70.26 on Thursday, a gain of 58 cents on the day.
