The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades LLC to finance the restoration and resumption of service of the Palisades Power Plant, an 800-MW nuclear generating station in Covert Township, Michigan.
The project aims to bring the single-reactor unit back into commercial operation by the end of 2025. It was retired by previous owner Entergy in May 2022. If finalized, Holtec Palisades would be the first recommissioning of a shutdown nuclear power plant in the U.S.
“Holtec is committed to helping the nuclear and energy industries meet challenges and find solutions. 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,” Nick Culp, Palisades Nuclear Generating Station’s senior manager for Governmental Affairs with Holtec Decommissioning International, told POWER. “Our repower efforts have been buoyed by the strong broad-based support this effort has received from our federal, state, and community partners who recognize the strategic importance of the plant to the state and nation’s clean energy future.”
The DOE said the Palisades project highlights President 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––with approximately 45% of the workforce at the site being union labor upon restart. In addition to the workers supported by the facility’s restart, if finalized, the loan guarantee would support more than 1,000 jobs during the facility’s regularly scheduled refueling and maintenance periods every 18 months.
Palisades was taken offline for the final time on May 20, 2022. The shutdown completed a record-setting run at the site—the unit had continuously generated electricity for 577 consecutive days since its last refueling, which was also a world record for a plant of its kind. Notably, Palisades was ranked in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) highest safety category, and Entergy said the station was regarded by its peers as one of the top performers in the industry.
Following the removal of used fuel from the Palisades reactor, the facility was transferred to Holtec International on June 28, 2022, “for purposes of a safe and timely decommissioning.” Holtec was expected to complete the dismantling, decontamination, and remediation of Palisades to NRC standards by 2041.
Yet, efforts to save the Palisades plant quickly began. Holtec applied for financial support through the Civil Nuclear Credit Program, a $6 billion fund designed to help preserve the existing U.S. reactor fleet and save thousands of high-paying jobs across the country. The program was made possible by the passing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Holtec also received backing from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Sept. 9, 2022, in support of Holtec’s plans to repower and reopen Palisades.
In September 2023, Holtec and Wolverine Power Cooperative, a not-for-profit power generation cooperative, agreed on a long-term deal, with Wolverine committing to purchase up to two-thirds of the power generated by Palisades for its Michigan-based member rural electric cooperatives. Wolverine’s non-profit rural electric cooperative project partner, Hoosier Energy, an alliance of 18 member cooperatives serving 59 counties across central and southern Indiana and southeastern Illinois, would purchase the balance. Today’s announcement brings Palasades’ rebirth another step closer to fruition.