The controversial restart of a West Michigan nuclear power plant may be near.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Palisades nuclear power plant may restart as soon as the end of the November.
Entergy, the previous owner, shut down Palisades in 2022, and sold it to Holtec International for decommissioning. It had begun producing power in 1971.
However, before it the years long process of dismantling and decommissioning began, the Biden administration and later the Trump administration, pushed for the unprecedented step of restarting the nuclear reactor. The DOE has offered up to $1.52 billion in loan guarantees to fund the restart.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state lawmakers have also backed the move.
After touring the plant Thursday, Wright said the company operating Palisades has only a few tests and regulatory hurdles to do.
“You got to be very careful for safety in Michigan and nuclear in general,” said Wright, “So it’s just very careful, meticulous work things are going well…and it will be started in a few weeks.”
But the planned restart has been delayed before.
Palisades is operated by Camden, New Jersey-based Holtec International. A company spokesman says when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cleared it to begin the restart process, the reactor will be slowly taken from low power to full power over the course of several weeks.
Holtec CEO Kris Singh calls the restarting of the Palisades plant a “nuclear renaissance.”
“It will be better than a new plant and it will have another 50 years,” said Singh at a gathering of Holtec employees and guests. The current operating license expires in 2031.
Singh said a successful restart will lead to “blossoming” of nuclear power around the world.
Opponents question whether the nuclear plant along the Lake Michigan shoreline can be safety restarted.
“Once they restart this zombie reactor, all bets are off,” said Kevin Kamps, the executive director of Don’t Waste Michigan.
“They are playing radioactive Russian roulette on the Lake Michigan shore, wasting billions of dollars of state and federal taxpayer money to do so.”
After an unexpected snag in August, fuel assemblies were reloaded into the reactor earlier this month.
