Nuclear management firm to open headquarters here

The Nuclear Management Company, which provides services to a fleet of seven Midwest nuclear power plants, announced this week it will locate its headquarters in Hudson.

The corporate office in Western Wisconsin will house about 100 management and administrative employees who will relocate from NMC offices in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In selecting the headquarters location, NMC President Michael B. Sellman cited the positive business climate in Wisconsin, the excellent transportation offered at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, as well as encouragement from Hudson city officials and Wisconsin state officials.

"This is an important step in the development of the NMC," Sellman said. "We are looking forward to becoming a vital part of the Hudson community and to establishing the NMC as an industry leader committed to nuclear excellence."

The NMC office will be at the former Erickson Diversified building at 700 First St. beginning in January with about 40 NMC employees, and ramp up to 100 employees by the end of 2000. A formal NMC headquarters grand opening is planned for later in January.

Affiliates of four Midwest utilities formed NMC, a limited liability company, in February 1999 to operate and provide services for their nuclear generating plants to sustain long-term safety, optimize reliability and improve the operational performance. They are Northern States Power Co. headquartered in Minnesota, and Wisconsin Electric Power Co., Wisconsin Public Service and Alliant Energy, all headquartered in Wisconsin.

NMC expects to assume day-to-day operating responsibility for the seven nuclear plants by mid-2000, pending regulatory approvals. The plants, which generate more than 3,600 megawatts of electricity, are: Alliant Energy's Duane Arnold Energy Center near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, NSP's Monticello plant near Monticello, Minn., the two-unit Prairie Island plant near Red Wing, Minn., Wisconsin Energy's two-unit Point Beach near Two Rivers, and the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant near Kewaunee, operated by Public Service.