United States approves $1.52B loan to restart Michigan's Palisades nuclear plant

United States approves $1.52B loan to restart Michigan's Palisades nuclear plant
by Clyde Hughes
Washington DC (UPI) Sep 30, 2024

The Biden administration said on Monday that a final deal had been made to give an energy company a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to bring a Michigan nuclear power plant back to life.

Holtec International agreed to refurbish and restart the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, near the shores of Lake Michigan about 15 miles north of Benton Harbor by October 2025. Once it starts, two rural providers said they are ready to draw power from it.

Under the loan, the Agricultural Department will provide Wolverine Power Cooperative a $650 million grant to help provide a quarter of its costs to purchase nuclear power from the plant and $675 million to Hoosier Energy -- a nonprofit out of Indiana -- that will also look to purchase energy from the plant.

"The restart of Palisades offers a practical, long-term solution to electric reliability in our state," Eric Baker, CEO of the Wolverine Power Cooperation, told the New York Times. The cooperative will be one of the plants drawing energy from the Palisades.

Holtec -- a nuclear technology firm based in Jupiter, Fla. -- bought the plant in 2022 after it closed.

It initially sought to dismantle it, but later pushed for its reopening with the support of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and plans to inspect and refurbish its reactor.

"We've been using all of the tools in our tool belt to support the nuclear energy sector, keep reactors online, and to bring them back, and to finance advanced reactor deployment as well," Energy Department Secretary David Turk said, according to CNBC.

The Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club in May railed about the plant's reopening, saying dealing with radioactive waste issues so close to Lake Michigan makes starting it again impractical.

"Storing ever-more nuclear waste in this ever-changing climate seems like a dangerous gamble, mainly since the Great Lakes provide water to 40 million people," the Sierra Club said then. "Reopening the Palisades nuclear power plant is a foolish way to use $1.5 billion of state and federal funds while ratepayers incur even more costs."

This would mark the first time that a company has ever restarted a U.S. nuclear reactor that seemed to have been permanently closed.

The loan comes after Constellation earlier this month announced it would aim to restart Three Mile Island's Unit 1 reactor in a deal that would sell energy to Microsoft.