Michigan seeks restart of shuttered nuclear power plant

A company that tears down closed nuclear power plants wants to do in Michigan what has never been done in the U.S.: restore a dead one to life.

Holtec Decommissioning International bought the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station last June for the stated purpose of dismantling it, weeks after previous owner Entergy shut it down. Fuel was removed from the reactor core. Federal regulators were notified of “permanent cessation of power operations.”

But with support from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and leaders in the Lake Michigan community where Palisades was an economic driver for 50 years, Holtec soon kicked off a campaign to bring the plant back. The 800-megawatt facility had generated roughly 5% of the state’s electricity.

“Keeping Palisades open is critical for Michigan’s competitiveness and future economic development opportunities,” Whitmer said in a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, herself a former Michigan governor, requesting federal funding for the restart.

A primary reason for its about-face on Palisades was a $6 billion federal initiative to prolong older nuclear facilities, part of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law.

Nuclear is key to his goal of an economy with net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Fission generates no carbon dioxide, the primary global warming gas, although fossil fuels can be used in mining and refining uranium ore for reactors. 

“Nuclear reactors support energy independence by ensuring the reliable availability of clean, resilient and affordable power,” the Energy Department said in March, announcing a second funding application period for aging plants.




2010 file photo shows, the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert, Mich. Holtec Decommissioning International, a company that tears down closed nuclear power plants wants to do in Michigan what has never been done in the U.S.: restore a dead one to life. Activists who long criticized Palisades as poorly maintained and dangerous don't want it resurrected. (John Madill/The Herald-Palladium via AP, File)