The site was originally built as a coal and oil-fired facility in 1950, then construction began on a nuclear power plant (boiling water reactor) in 1959.
[1] The nuclear reactor was small (22 MW[1]) and only operated from July 1, 1964[1] until February 1, 1968[1] before undergoing decommission and dismantlement in the following years, ending in the early 1970s.
Some of the spent nuclear fuel from Elk River was sent to Italy for reprocessing as part of a thorium fuel cycle research program; decades later this became the subject of diplomatic exchanges regarding its ultimate fate.
[citation needed] Elk River resumed operating on coal and oil in 1968.
Waste arrives from Anoka, Benton, Hennepin, Sherburne, and Stearns counties, and the ash remaining after incineration is taken to a landfill in Becker, Minnesota.