A Michigan state representative sponsoring legislation to support developing nuclear power in the Great Lake State said Tuesday that a recently-closed nuclear facility should be part of such a push.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) support for a proposal to restart Palisades Nuclear Generating Station using cash from a Department of Energy bailout is “really good,” Michigan state Rep. Graham Filler (R) told Exchange Monitor during a phone interview Tuesday.
“I believe deeply in nuclear energy as clean, reliable and remarkably powerful energy,” Filler said. “[W]ind and solar are fine things, but we don’t live in a wind and solar state … they don’t create enough energy on the grid to even get close to what one nuclear plant can provide.”
Decommissioning company Holtec International currently owns the Covert, Mich., Palisades plant, which shut down for good May 20. Although it initially intended to dismantle the facility, the company announced in early September that, following collaboration with Lansing and local stakeholders, it had applied for the first round of DOE’s roughly $6 billion civil nuclear credits program.
Holtec said at the time that, if approved for a bailout, it would seek a potential buyer to bring Palisades back online.
Filler said Tuesday that he was happy to hear Whitmer “come out positively about nuclear energy multiple times” and that she is working with the Joe Biden administration to keep Palisades running.
News about Lansing’s move to save Palisades “came at the right time,” Filler said, as a piece of legislation aimed at assessing the feasibility of new nuclear power in Michigan is on its way to the governor’s desk. The proposed bill, which Filler introduced in April, would direct the state public service commission to, among other things, analyze how Michigan could “leverag[e] existing nuclear energy generation facilities within this state.”
The proposed study would also gather information about the feasibility of advanced nuclear generation such as small modular reactors (SMRs) in Michigan.
Filler’s legislation passed in the state House Sep. 28 on a 83-21 vote. The state Senate approved its version of the bill 32-4 on the same day. As of Tuesday, Whitmer had yet to sign the measure, but Filler told Exchange Monitor he expected that she would.
“We’re a top ten nuclear state,” Filler said. “[The idea of] losing Palisades, I think, makes this study really important for what comes next.”
Holtec acquired Palisades in June from former operator Entergy. In addition to its recent efforts to restart the plant, the company has also floated the site as a potential location for a future SMR prototype.
