Xcel Energy to settle lawsuit for $36 million

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Xcel Energy has agreed to pay a nuclear contractor $36 million to settle a lawsuit over work at its Red Wing power plant in Minnesota.

Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy of Charlotte, North Carolina, claimed in its litigation that it was owed $46 million for its work to replace steam generators at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant. It was a project that cost $280 million. Xcel claimed it didn’t owe the money.

The Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1GcVap1 ) reports the companies’ regulatory filings say the settlement also covers pending litigation with the project’s main contractor, SNC Lavalin Nuclear, which was a defendant in the case.

The lawsuit was filed in Goodhue County District Court last November.