The Palisades nuclear plant in southwest Michigan is closer to reopening after federal regulators signed off on allowing the shuttered plant’s owners to load fuel into the facility. After closing in 2022, Palisades would be the first nuclear power plant scheduled for decommissioning in the United States to resume energy generation.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on July 24 signed off on an exemption allowing Holtec International — which bought the Palisades plant the year it closed — to load fuel back into the plant. NRC officials say there are still more licensing and regulatory steps to go before the plant can become fully operational again but the approval is a significant step toward getting the plant repowered.
“This authorization allows us to take critical next steps, including the safe receipt of nuclear fuel and the formal transition of licensed reactor operators to on-shift roles. The plant remains on track and on budget for a timely restart, supported by extensive system testing, inspections, and maintenance work,” Nick Culp, Holtec senior manager of government affairs and communications, said in an email to the Free Press on July 25.
The Palisades plant is located in Covert Township, a community of about 2,500 residents near the Lake Michigan coast, about an hour southwest of Grand Rapids. The plant ceased operation in 2022 after supplying power to the region for over 50 years. The plant closed two weeks earlier than initially planned after previous owner Entergy found issues with a control rod drive seal. Control rods are used to control the speed of the reactions that generate nuclear fission, and, in turn, nuclear energy. The devices are considered imperative to reactor safety, according to the Energy Education project at the University of Calgary. An NRC official told the Free Press last year the agency is satisfied the plant can operate safely for at least 60 years.
Holtec bought the facility from Entergy in 2022 and is licensed to operate Palisades through March 2031, according to NRC documents. Initially, Holtec eyed decommissioning the plant, although support for its reopening from key state and federal government officials have buoyed prospects of Palisades becoming operational again.
Nuclear power is considered a clean energy source because it does not give off the greenhouse gas emissions that coal-fired or natural gas-backed power plants do. And while President Donald Trump has also backed coal- and natural gas-focused projects, his administration has vowed to “unleash” nuclear power in the United States since his inauguration in January, part of a push for greater reliance on domestic energy production.
There are critics of the project to reopen Palisades, who note the plant’s age and the lack of experience in restarting shuttered nuclear plants in the United States. When Palisades stopped generating power in 2022, it was one of the oldest nuclear plants in the country, having first been licensed in 1971.
“The zombie reactor restart scheme is unneeded, insanely expensive for the public, and extremely high risk for health, safety, security, and the environment,” Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist for Beyond Nuclear, who has opposed the Palisades restart, said in a July 24 statement.
In 2024, the Biden administration celebrated the approval of a $1.5 billion Department of Energy loan for Holtec’s reopening of Palisades. In March, the Trump administration released over $57 million of those funds, a signal of the current federal government’s continued support for the project. Michigan lawmakers, in the state’s fiscal year 2024 budget, also earmarked $150 million for Palisades.
So far, Holtec has met key NRC benchmarks in its quest to get Palisades operational again. In May, the NRC published an environmental assessment, finding the plant’s reopening would not have a significant impact on the surrounding environment.
Holtec announced in 2023 that Wolverine Power Cooperative, a nonprofit electric provider servicing 280,000 customers in mostly rural Michigan, would purchase two-thirds of the power generated by Palisades once it reopens. The remaining power would be purchased by Hoosier Energy, which provides electricity in Indiana and Illinois.
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Feds approve key measure in quest for reopening of shuttered Michigan nuclear plant
Reporting by Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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