Second part of Palisades loan guarantee released
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has released USD56.8 million of the up to USD1.52 billion loan guarantee for the project to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan.
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"Unleashing American energy dominance will require leveraging all energy sources that are affordable, reliable and secure - including nuclear energy," Wright said. "Today's action is yet another step toward advancing President Trump's commitment to increase domestic energy production, bolster our security and lower costs for the American people."
The 800 MWe single unit pressurised water reactor plant ceased operations in May 2022. Holtec International completed its acquisition of the plant from Entergy shortly afterwards: initially, the plan had been for Holtec to decommission it, but the company subsequently announced plans to apply for federal funding to support a restart of operations. It would be the first nuclear reactor in the USA to resume operations after having been retired.
The US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office issued the loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades in September 2024 to support the project, which is projected to support or retain up to 600 high-quality jobs in Michigan, plus some 1,000 jobs during regularly scheduled refuelling and maintenance outages every 18 months. Restarting the plant is anticipated to avoid the emission of 4.47 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year for a total of 111 million tCO2 during the projected 25 years of operations.
Palisades (Image: US Department of Energy)
The restart of the reactor will be subject to approvals from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In January, the regulator issued for public comment a draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact evaluating the environmental impacts from reauthorising power operations at the plant, as it considers Holtec's requests for the licence exemptions and amendments it will need before the plant can restart.
Holtec has also said it intends to use the Palisades site as the location for its first two small modular reactor units. These will potentially add an additional 600 MW of generation capacity at the site and take advantage of existing infrastructure.
