The planned restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan (see map below) took another step forward this week when the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it had disbursed $57 million of a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to help Holtec International finance the restoration and resumption of service at the 800-MW reactor.
As we detailed in Coming Back to Life, Palisades would be the first U.S. reactor to resume service after the decommissioning process had begun. It must still work through a number of regulatory steps with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), including an environmental assessment, intensive inspections and an amended license to operate. The NRC said it plans to rule on any licensing issues by July 31. Holtec has said it wants to restart the plant during Q4 2025.
The plant operated from December 1971 to May 2022 and was sold to Holtec International in June 2022. A Holtec subsidiary then began planning for the decommissioning process, including defueling. Shortly before the decommissioning process got underway, Holtec executives began to explore whether it could be re-opened, citing changes in market conditions, including a $6 billion Biden administration initiative announced in April 2022 to prolong the life of older nuclear facilities and growing support at the community and state level.
The loan guarantee comes from the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), which was significantly expanded during the Biden administration to support a number of clean-energy initiatives but faces an uncertain future under the Trump administration. The LPO was only used to finance nuclear power under the first Trump administration.
