Holtec International says it has achieved significant new milestones in its efforts to restart the Palisades NPP in Covert Township, Michigan. Earlier in August, Holtec confirmed plans to restart power generation at the closed Palisades NPP next year if federal safety regulators approved. “We expect to be resuming power operations in October of next year,” Michael Schultheis, Palisades regulatory and site strategies director for Holtec International, told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at a public meeting.
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 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.
“This pioneering endeavour will bolster our national energy security and place Michigan at the forefront of the global drive to boost clean energy generation, Holtec said. Recent milestones, achieved under independent reviews conducted by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and NRC “are both substantive and record setting”.
- Training Accreditation: On 9 August Palisades received initial accreditation for both its Operations and Maintenance & Technical training programmes, winning unanimous approval from the National Nuclear Accreditation Board. This covers training, analysis, design, and development programmes, and is the essential prelude to the final accreditation, which will assess the implementation and effectiveness of these programmes.
- Operator Licensing and Training: Some 26 former Palisades licensed operators have completed the requalification programme to reclaim their NRC operating licences. In addition, initial licensed and non-licensed operator classes that began in early 2024 are well underway. “Encouraged by this success, we have launched yet another round of operator training classes”.
- Growing a Highly Qualified Workforce: The Palisades workforce has been growing with over 240 personnel across multiple disciplines recruited year-to-date, bringing our permanent on-site workforce to over 470 full-time professionals.
- Restart Project Activities Proceeding on Schedule: Palisades is undergoing extensive inspections, testing, maintenance, system, and equipment upgrades and modifications to ensure long-term continuation as a safe, reliable nuclear power generator. “Our most recent major project milestone was this month with the completion of reactor vessel internal inspections…. Our team is now proceeding with scheduled steam generator cleaning and inspections within the reactor building.” In July, the plant’s first-ever chemical cleaning of its primary coolant system was completed, which resulted in a significant reduction in background dose rates.
