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A month after being denied a federal grant to reopen Palisades Nuclear Plant, owner Holtec International announced its intention to reapply.
Holtec applied for funding through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Civil Nuclear Credit Program in July to support the reopening of Palisades, which closed in May.
The application was made public in September, with support from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but was denied in mid-November. Despite the initial failure, Holtec will reapply during a new round of funding.
“The repowering of Palisades is of vital importance to Michigan’s clean energy future,” Holtec wrote in a Facebook post. “As Michigan transitions from fossil-fuel generation to renewables and emerging advanced technologies, baseload nuclear generation is an essential backstop.
“Based on the supportive feedback we have received, Holtec will be reapplying for the next round of funding."
Holtec said the company didnt "take lightly” the decision to apply again, but said it’s the “best path forward” for both Palisades and the state.
“The support of the state of Michigan, local officials and key stakeholders — who recognize the significant benefit in providing a safe, reliable, carbon-free power source, as well as providing a significant economic impact through good paying jobs and the use of many local goods and services — leads us to believe this is the best path forward,” the company wrote.
Pat O’Brien, director of government affairs and communication at Holtec, said the company feels having more time to put together an application will be a benefit this time around.
“We do feel we have a better idea, based on feedback, what DOE expects in an application,” O’Brien wrote in an email to The Sentinel. “When round one was open, we acquired the plant four days before the application period closed. We have much more time to put together the package this time in a thorough fashion.”
From the beginning, Holtec knew there would be “a number of hurdles” to reopening, including financial commitment from the state, maintenance and delayed capital improvements of the facility, procuring a power purchase agreement, upgrading the switchyard, partnering with a licensed operator for the restart and rehiring qualified and trained staff.
The plant closed earlier than expected in May due to the performance of a control rod drive seal. According to the DOE website, the next round of CNC applications is expected to open in January 2023.
In the meantime, Holtec will continue its decommissioning work — none of which, thus far, has been permanent and all of which could be undone if the plant were able to reopen, OBrien said. The focus will remain on managing fuel removal, but fully decommissioning the plant is expected to take more than two decades.
When the closure was first announced, Holtec said it would spend the next three years removing the spent fuel into dry cask storage. In July, Holtec proposed a plan to move radioactive materials off-site during the dismantling of Palisades by road, rail — and perhaps most controversially — by barge shipments on Lake Michigan.
The first round of CNC funding awarded up to $1.1 billion to the Diablo Canyon Power Plant near Avila Beach, California. Units 1 and 2 of the plant were scheduled for decommissioning in 2024 and 2025. The DOE said the CNC grant will save 1,500 clean energy jobs.
Environmental groups have said Palisades shouldnt eligible for the Civil Nuclear Credit Program — a $6 billion fund created through bipartisan infrastructure law — because, to qualify, nuclear power reactors must be projected to cease operations due to economic factors, which excludes Palisades because the facility is no longer producing or selling electricity.
"It is unequivocally clear that the (program envisions) subsidizing only operating reactors under the Civil Nuclear Credit Program," a letter signed by the Michigan Sierra Club, the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, and the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council in September read. "The program simply does not contemplate funding a closed reactor that has terminated operations." |
