Minnesota Statutes § 216B.243, subdivision 3b: nuclear certificate of need

Minnesota's current certificate-of-need statute says the commission may not issue a certificate of need to construct a new nuclear-powered electric generating plant. The prohibition was signed on 10 May 1994 and took effect the next day. A 2003 amendment is recorded by year only. The bar is not limited to small modular reactors and is not an NRC decision.

Category: Laws, rules and executive directives
Status: In effect
Instrument: statute · Minn. Stat. § 216B.243, subd. 3b
Issued by: Minnesota Legislature
Jurisdiction: Minnesota
Affects: Siting
In effect from: 11 May 1994 · actual · day
Expiry or completion: None recorded
Operative text: Minnesota Revisor: Statutes section 216B.243 (Minnesota Revisor current section, opened 4 October 2026)
Last checked · next review: 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15

Legal and geographic scope

Current Minnesota Statutes. The commission may not issue a certificate of need for construction of a new nuclear-powered electric generating plant. A certificate of need for additional spent-fuel storage at a facility seeking a license extension must address continued-operation impacts. This is a state certificate-of-need bar, not an NRC licensing bar, and the section does not define or limit itself to small modular reactors. The 1994 session law's original subdivision was the construction sentence only.

Not approved or still pending

No Minnesota commission order finding an exception was opened. 2026 c. 47, shown on the same code page, amends subdivision 8 rather than subdivision 3b. No award, appropriation, or project approval is in this section. Minnesota has no tracked site in this dataset, and geography would not create a link.

Dated lifecycle

10 May 1994 · actual · day · Signed — Chapter 641 records that the governor signed it on 10 May 1994. Article 2 added the certificate-of-need bar for a new nuclear-powered electric generating plant. (Minnesota Session Laws 1994, chapter 641)
11 May 1994 · actual · day · Took effect — Article 2 says it is effective the day following final enactment. The same chapter records the 10 May 1994 signature, so that following day is 11 May 1994. (Minnesota Session Laws 1994, chapter 641)
2003 · actual · year · Amended — The current code's history line says 2003 c. 11, art. 1, s. 4 amended subdivision 3b. The 2003 session law was not opened, so the day of that amendment is not recorded. The current text includes the spent-fuel storage sentence, which was not in the 1994 subdivision. (Minnesota Revisor: Statutes section 216B.243)

Definitions in this instrument

nuclear-powered electric generating plant (subd. 3b(a)): The subdivision uses this term and does not define small modular reactor, module size, or a megawatt threshold.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.

Projects or designs named by the source

None. Location in this jurisdiction does not make a project eligible for, or approved under, this measure.

Sources

Minnesota Revisor: Statutes section 216B.243 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)
Minnesota Session Laws 1994, chapter 641 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)