The structure is located just south of the Prairie Island Indian Reservation, home of the Treasure Island Resort & Casino. The Prairie Island Nuclear Power Station is just north of the dam, and just south of the casino. The power plant has been a sore spot with the Indian community for many years. Despite a good operating record, the Indians would like the power plant removed. The power plant supplies nearly half of the electricity to the twin cities area, so a shutdown is not in the cards. As a result, the Indians declared the reservation to be a non-nuclear area. This prevented the power company from using the access road through the reservation. As a result, Northern States Power was forced to build a new access road that skirted the boundary of the reservation.
The fifth photo below shows the power station in the distance just upstream from the lock & dam. Also visible in that photos is the curve in the river leading up to lock entrance. This curve has a significant draft current that pushes towards the middle of the river. This has resulted in a large number of accidents were tows get away from the river pilots, and head into the dam rather than into the lock.
