Hundreds of nuclear engineers and climate advocates in a letter earlier this month implored Michigan’s governor to step in and stop a nuclear power plant’s planned closure in the spring.
“We seek your assistance in preventing the permanent and premature closure of the Palisades nuclear plant in May 2022, nine years before its operating license expires in 2031,” the coalition of pro-nuclear experts told Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in a letter dated Feb. 14. Shuttering the Covert, Mich., nuclear plant, which provides a fifth of the state’s carbon-free electricity, would be “worse than demolishing all renewable energy sources in Michigan,” the letter said.
The letter urged Whitmer to encourage plant operator Entergy to seek financial assistance from the federal government in the form of the civilian nuclear tax credits greenlit under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, popularly known as the bipartisan infrastructure law. The bill, signed into law in November, includes around $6 billion in tax credits for economically-troubled nuclear plants, to be auctioned off by the Department of Energy.
“Given the urgency of the situation, we cannot continue down the politically expedient path of allowing premature nuclear closures before successfully eliminating fossil combustion,” the letter said.
The Department of Energy has until April to come up with a scheme for auctioning off the credits from the infrastructure law.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December approved the Palisades plant’s sale to decommissioning company Holtec International from Entergy alongside the already-dismantled Big Rock Point plant, also in Michigan. The commission is still weighing whether to allow a public hearing on the sale based on concerns raised by anti-nuclear groups and state attorney general Dana Nessel (D).
