The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says it was not unexpected when some 250 fish near the Monticello nuclear power plant died after the facility was powered down to fix a leak.
Officials say with the facility not in operation, the surrounding water in the Mississippi River cooled, and the significant temperature change killed the fish.
"We do everything we can to minimize that impact," said Chris Clark, Xcel Energy regional president, who appeared on the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar.
"All forms of generation have some sort of impact on the environment," said Clark. "We want to reassure people that we're doing everything that we can to be environmentally responsible and a good neighbor as we operate this plant."
According to the report from the MPCA, 230 fish had died including bass, channel catfish, common carp, and one or more species of sucker fish.
The fish kill was not caused by tritium, which was in the the contaminated water that began leaking at the plant last fall.
"The fish kill has nothing to do with the tritiated water that leaked from the plant," said Clark.
Xcel Energy decided to power down the plant to allow crews to make a permanent fix of the leak, which reappeared earlier this month.
Officials with Xcel Energy met again on Monday with people who live near the plant, and found many of those residents are frustrated that they weren't notified about the leak when it first appeared last fall.
"It sounds like there's a little bit of regret in not informing people sooner," said Vineeta during the live interview.