Nuclear

Michigan lawmakers support re-opening Palisades nuclear plant

The state could chip in as much $300 million to help restart Palisades, which is currently being decommissioned.
Michigan lawmakers support re-opening Palisades nuclear plant
(A photo of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The plant was retired in 2022.)

A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers that make up a newly-formed nuclear energy caucus wrote a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week expressing “full support” for the re-opening of Palisades nuclear plant.

“We have the chance to make history by successfully repowering a non-operational nuclear power plant, becoming the first state in American history to accomplish such a feat,” state lawmakers wrote. “The successful re-powering of Palisades would immediately provide safe, carbon-free, and reliable energy to a grid that desperately needs more baseload generation.”

The 800 MW Palisades nuclear power plant is currently being decommissioned. Holtec International bought the plant in 2022 and shuttered it with an eye toward decommissioning the facility under an agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

However, Holtec more recently applied for federal dollars to help get the plant running again. It hopes to tap a $6 billion fund at the Department of Energy earmarked to preserve the U.S. nuclear reactor fleet and associated jobs.

We previously reported that Michigan could chip in as much $300 million to help restart Palisades. Holtec officials were quoted as saying it would take hundreds of millions of dollars for facility renovations and to buy nuclear fuel.

Palisades, located in Covert, Michigan, began commercial operation in 1971.

Tags