Michigan reactor could become first in country to be returned to service after shutdown
The US Department of Energy has announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.52bn (€1.4bn) for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades to finance the restoration and resumption of service of the Palisades nuclear power station in Covert Township, Michigan.
The project, which is conditional on various regulatory approvals, aims to bring the station’s single reactor unit back into commercial operation by the end of 2025 and keep it operating until at least 2051.
If finalised, Palisades would be the first recommissioning of a shutdown nuclear power plant in the US.
Last year, the state of Michigan’s budget included $150m to support the restart of the Palisades, but that money depended on federal support for the restart.
Holtec bought Palisades from previous owner Entergy in 2022 to decommission the 805-MW pressurised water reactor facility, which had struggled to compete with natural gas-fired plants and renewable energy.
The plant shut about 10 days earlier than expected in May 2022, after discovery of a problem with a control rod drive seal.
Holtec initially planned to repurpose the 174-hectare site but the Biden administration’s $6bn of aid for upgrading nuclear facilities in the US led the company to reconsider its plans.
“Holtec is committed to helping the nuclear and energy industries meet challenges and find solutions,” a Holtec spokesperson said.
Restart ‘Will Support High-Paying Jobs’
“Repowering Palisades helps ensure we have enough reliable, around-the-clock electricity to keep the lights on for Michigan families and small businesses while also helping mitigate climate change through safe, reliable, and carbon-free generation.”
The DOE said the Palisades project highlights president Joe Biden’s ‘Investing in America’ agenda to “support good-paying, high-quality job opportunities in communities across the country while also expanding access to affordable clean energy resources”.
The project is expected to support or retain up to 600 jobs in Michigan – many of them filled by workers who have been at the plant for more than 20 years. In addition to the workers supported by the facility’s restart, if finalised, the loan guarantee would support more than 1,000 jobs during the facility’s regularly scheduled refueling and maintenance periods every 18 months, the DOE said.
Holtec said in October 2023 that it had formally begun the process of seeking federal reauthorisation to restart Palisades.
In September 2023 Holtec signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Wolverine Power Cooperative to buy power from Palisades.
According to the agreement, Wolverine Power Cooperative, a not-for-profit energy provider to the rural communities across Michigan, is committing to purchase up to two-thirds of the power generated by Palisades for its Michigan-based member rural electric cooperatives.
The agreement also contained a contract expansion provision to include up to two small modular reactors that Holtec intends to build and commission at the site.
