A group of lawmakers recently urged the Department of Energy to speed up its consideration of Holtec International’s request for a large federal loan to restart the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan.
“[W]e urge the Department of Energy to give its fair, full, and swift consideration to the application,” the bipartisan, nine-member bloc of House members wrote in a letter dated Dec. 15 and shared online this week.
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), whose district on the shores of Lake Michigan includes Palisades, published the letter on his website.
According to its own public statements, Holtec seeks at least $1 billion from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. However, documents obtained by an environmental group show that Holtec at one point sought about $2 billion for a Palisades restart: something the company says is possible by August 2025, if it gets the loan.
Holtec has said it hopes DOE will approve or deny the loan application by Dec. 31. Earlier this year, the company thought the agency might decide as soon as June. Meanwhile, Holtec has formed an operating company to take over Palisades, if it restarts, and found a buyer for the electricity the plant would produce.
Other lawmakers who signed the letter to DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were:
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.)
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.)
Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.)
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich)
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.)
Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.)
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.)
Palisades shutdown in 2022. Holtec bought the plant from Entergy to decommission it, but local and state lawmakers eventually supported a restart, with the state kicking in $125 million in financial aid in June as part of a Michigan budget bill.
