Holtec International said progress continues at the Palisades NPP where restart remains on schedule. The single-unit 800 MWe pressurised water reactor at Palisades NPP began commercial operation in 1971. Operator Entergy announced in 2016 plans to close the plant. In 2021 the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved transfer of the licence from Entergy to Holtec in preparation for its decommissioning.
The reactor was removed from service by Entergy in May 2022, and defueled, and its sale to Holtec completed in June 2022. Holtec then announced that it was applying for federal funding to allow restart of the plant. In April 2024, the US Department of Energy (DOE) through its Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced the offer of a conditional commitment of up to $1.52bn as a loan guarantee to restart the plant.
Holtec said chemical cleaning, as expected, has had a dramatic effect on further improving the plant’s occupational radiation safety metrics and staff training is continuing. “Our focus has now shifted to detailed inspections and maintenance of major systems, including the main turbine, containment building structure, high-voltage towers, and transformers. In parallel, preparations are nearly complete for the site’s upcoming dry fuel storage campaign, scheduled to begin next month.”
This campaign, which will run for approximately five months, involves transferring used fuel assemblies currently stored in the plant’s fuel pool to Holtec’s HI-STORM FW dry fuel storage systems at a unified on-site storage facility designed and built by Holtec’s Nuclear Power Division. By unifying the plant’s two separate on-site storage facilities into one, Holtec Palisades seeks to further improve the safety and security profile of the site.
Most recently, Holtec has completed detailed inspections of the plant’s steam generators. “During these inspections, the need for additional maintenance activities was identified. Thorough and early inspections have allowed us to proactively identify and implement the needed refurbishments before Palisades returns to service.”
Palisades’s owner’s engineer, Nuclear Consultants International (NCI, an autonomous Holtec affiliate), is working with experienced on-site and external experts to devise and implement industry-proven solutions. “As nuclear professionals, restoring the plant to its highest level of safety is our utmost priority. Our primary focus remains ensuring that Palisades returns to service safely and reliably, with all necessary repairs and maintenance completed to the highest standards,” said Holtec Chief Nuclear Officer Rich Burroni.
NRC has established the Palisades Nuclear Plant Restart Panel to provide oversight of the restart effort.NRC says Holtec will need to explain to how it will return plant components to a status that supports safe operation; restore the licensing basis of the plant to an operational status, and make any upgrades necessary to meet current NRC requirements. NRC staff will carefully review the regulatory and licensing documents for the plant, inspect new and restored components necessary to operate safely, and continue ongoing oversight to ensure sufficiency of all plant systems and programmes.
Researched and written by Judith Perera
