Could Nuclear be Plug-n-Play at Older Plant Sites?

Hope it works. History suggests there will be challenges.

Utility Dive:

• The sites of operating or recently retired U.S. nuclear power plants could support up to 95 GW of additional electric power production capacity from newly-built nuclear reactors, the Department of Energy said in a Sept. 3 report.
• Forty-one reactor sites could host up to 60 GW of new capacity from large light-water reactors, such as the AP-1000, or up to 95 GW of new capacity from smaller 600-MWe advanced reactors, DOE said.
• Companies previously engaged with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to obtain combined construction and operating licenses to construct 17 new reactors at 12 of the 41 suitable sites, which could have resulted in a total of 24 GW of new nuclear reactor capacity, DOE said in the report. While those reactors were never built, “there is a very high degree of confidence that these sites would be potentially suitable to host a reactor,” DOE said.

The DOE report, “Evaluation of Nuclear Power Plant and Coal Power Plant Sites for New Nuclear Capacity,” also examined operating or recently-retired U.S. coal power plants for new nuclear potential.

The 145 coal sites the report examined could host 128 GW to 174 GW of nuclear electric-generating capacity, depending on the size of the reactors used in repowering, DOE said. Thirty-six states have potentially suitable coal sites and 31 states have potentially suitable nuclear sites.

All told, the nuclear and coal power plant sites DOE’s report examined could host up to 269 GW of new nuclear generation capacity using 600-MWe reactors, significantly more than the approximately 200 GW of advanced reactor capacity envisioned by 2050 in DOE’s 2022 advanced nuclear liftoff report.

Case in point – in Michigan, work is proceeding on a planned restart of a 50 year old nuclear plant, Palisades – something that has never been done before.
Engineering firm Holtec, which does not have previous experience in rebuilding or operating a nuclear plant, is doing the work.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer pushed for the Michigan Legislature to allocate 300 million in funding, which has been supplemented by another 1.5 billion in federal funding.

Power Engineering:

The Palisades Nuclear Plant is making significant strides toward its restart, owner Holtec International said.

On August 9, the Covert Township, Michigan plant received initial accreditation for both its Operations and Maintenance & Technical training programs from the National Nuclear Accreditation Board. Holtec said this accreditation, which covers training, analysis, design and development programs, is essential for the final accreditation, which the company expects to receive next year.

In the meantime, Holtec said 26 former Palisades operators have completed their requalification program and reclaimed their NRC licenses. New operator training classes, started in early-2024, are on track to grant federal licenses by Spring 2025
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Palisades is undergoing extensive inspections, testing, maintenance, system and equipment upgrades and modifications. This month, Holtec completed reactor vessel internal inspections. The teams are now proceeding with scheduled steam generator cleaning and inspections within the Reactor Building.

In July, the company completed the plant’s first-ever chemical cleaning of Palisades’ primary coolant system. Holtec said this refurbishment project would yield long-term benefits by drastically reducing the occupational dose rates throughout the plant’s repowering efforts and its service life.

In July, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Christopher Hanson told elected officials that environmental reviews are going well. He said the agency is reviewing the regulatory filings submitted by Holtec and expects to have a decision next May.

The goal is for Palisades to start producing energy by the fourth quarter of 2025. If and when it does, Palisades would become the U.S.’ first shut-down nuclear power plant to be recommissioned. The 800 MW plant would then be expected to produce baseload power until at least 2051.

Holtec acquired Palisades in June 2022 just after it was shut down. In early 2023, the company for federal loan funding to repower Palisades, which it received in the form of a $1.5 billion loan. The re-opening of Palisades has received bipartisan support from federal and state officials due to the need for clean, firm electrons on the grid.