Biden Administration Will Lend $1.5 Billion to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US
The federal authorities will present a $1.5 billion mortgage to restart a nuclear energy plant in southwestern Michigan, officers introduced Wednesday.
Holtec Worldwide acquired the 800-megawatt Palisades plant in 2022 with plans to dismantle it. However now the emphasis is on restarting it by late 2025, following assist from the state of Michigan and the Biden administration.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stated it will be the primary nuclear energy plant to be reopened within the U.S. It nonetheless faces hurdles, together with inspections, testing and the blessing of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Fee, generally known as the NRC.
“Nuclear energy is our single largest supply of carbon-free electrical energy, straight supporting 100,000 jobs throughout the nation and a whole lot of hundreds extra not directly,” stated Power Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor.
The Palisades plant is alongside Lake Michigan, a two-hour drive from Chicago. A Michigan utility, CMS Power, owned it from 1971 till the plant was offered to Louisiana-based utility Entergy in 2007. It was shut down in 2022.
Holtec stated it has long-term commitments so removed from two electrical cooperatives to purchase energy from the plant.
“The repowering of Palisades will restore secure, around-the-clock era to a whole lot of hundreds of households, companies and producers,” stated Kris Singh, Holtec president and chief govt.
Critics, nevertheless, have emerged. A coalition against restarting what it derisively calls a “zombie reactor” has requested a listening to on the NRC.
Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien stated it would take 4 to 5 months to finalize the monetary take care of the federal government.
“It’s a mortgage now we have to pay again,” he stated.
Nuclear vitality is within the highlight. Thirty-four international locations, together with america, final week pledged to make use of it to scale back reliance on fossil fuels. In California, regulators in December stated the Diablo Canyon plant may function via 2030 as a substitute of 2025 to protect towards blackouts because the state shifts towards renewable energy sources. Proprietor Pacific Gasoline & Electrical stated federal assist helped it repay a state mortgage.
“There may be extra enthusiasm towards nuclear energy—in Congress, within the trade and in addition internationally,” stated Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor on the College of Southern California who has inspected nuclear vegetation world wide.
However restarting a plant, he stated, just isn’t straightforward.
“It places the onus and burden on the Nuclear Regulatory Fee and Holtec to double down on efforts to verify this plant is secure sufficient and all the security measures are intact,” Meshkati stated of Palisades.
By Ed White