Dive Brief:
- Petitioners led by a former Palisades nuclear plant employee and an independent journalist asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in July to develop a process for returning a decommissioning plant to operational status. The NRC on Sept. 10 requested public comment as it considers the petition.
- Arguing that the re-commissioning pathway proposed by Palisades’ owner Holtec International relies on an unsuitable regulatory framework, the petitioners asked the NRC to update its regulations to require closer scrutiny of NRC license transfers to entities responsible for decommissioning and of the configuration, physical condition, personnel qualifications, licensing basis and other attributes of decommissioning plants proposed for reactivation.
- Holtec International Director of Government Affairs and Communications Patrick O’Brien downplayed the petition’s ramifications for the company’s plans to reactivate Palisades, noting the NRC denied a similar petition in 2021 on the basis that “the existing regulatory framework may be used to address the issue.”
Dive Insight:
The U.S. Department of Energy in March announced a $1.5 billion conditional loan commitment to support recommissioning at the 800-MW power plant. The state of Michigan previously committed $300 million to the effort, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this month awarded two regional utilities more than $600 million to purchase power from the facility.
The plant was shuttered by Entergy in May 2022 and acquired by Holtec the following month. Holtec at the time planned to decommission the plant but announced last September that it would instead work toward restarting operations. In a separate development, Constellation Energy on Friday announced plans to restart Three Mile Island unit 1 in 2028.
Since September 2022, Holtec has docketed seven major licensing actions with the NRC and has made hundreds of local hires, boosting employment at the plant from about 220 to more than 450, O’Brien told Utility Dive last month.
Holtec has already reassembled Palisades’ control room simulator, which had been stripped for parts, as a prerequisite for its operator licensing process, O’Brien said.
Among other significant work being done as part of the recommissioning is a year-long offsite refurbishment of the turbine exciter, a flush of the primary coolant system and a comprehensive effort to inspect and replace existing plant components, O’Brien said.
“A typical refueling outage is around 30 days…this is a unique [refurbishment] opportunity that most plants don’t get a chance to do,” he said.
Holtec International remains on track to restart operations at Palisades in October 2025, O’Brien said. NRC expects to issue a final decision on the required licensing actions by July 31.
The petition before the NRC is co-sponsored by Alan Blind, Palisades’ engineering director from 2006 to 2013. Blind told Reuters in August that he was concerned the NRC safety exemptions granted as the plant neared retirement would not be rectified before the NRC approved the recommissioning.
The petitioners argue that an NRC rulemaking is needed to establish a standard process for returning decommissioning plants to active status.
“This new rule-making is necessary, as Palisades is the first plant seeking NRC approval to transition from decommissioned status back to operation [and the] petitioner believes that Palisades represents a unique, ‘outlier’ case that will set a precedent for any future plants making similar requests,” the petition reads.
The NRC will continue to follow existing regulations while it evaluates the petition, the commission said in its Sept. 10 request for public comments.
Once Palisades’ 800-MW reactor is restarted, Holtec will turn its attention to previously-announced plans to add 600 MW of small modular reactor capacity at the site by 2030, O’Brien said.
Holtec expects to pursue the two-step licensing process under 10 CFR Part 50, with the first part — construction permit applications for two 300-MW SMRs — targeted for 2026, O’Brien said
