To help restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) this week recommended another $150 million in state funding, which if approved by lawmakers would bring Michigan’s total aid package to $300 million.
That is the amount plant owner Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., says it needs from the state to help restart the single-reactor facility on the shores of Lake Michigan by August 2025.
Whitmer made the recommendation Tuesday in a supplemental spending request for the state’s 2024 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Michigan’s bicameral legislature will have to draft and approve a new spending bill to unlock the funding.
Michigan’s legislature meets three days a week, Tuesday through Thursday, from the second week in January until the last week in June. Also on the legislature’s plate is Whitmer’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, which the governor released Wednesday.
Michigan last year approved a separate tranche of $150 million for Holtec’s proposed Palisades restart. Holtec will not be able to access any state funds unless it receives a much larger loan from the federal Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.
Holtec has said it hopes DOE will make a conditional loan commitment by February. Media last week reported that the Loan Programs Office planned to award the company a $1.5 billion loan.
Holtec bought Palisades from Entergy in 2022 to decommission the plant. However, the state and local governments advocated for its restart and Holtec is attempting to oblige. The plant needs a new steam generator, which would cost more than $500 million, and many other fixes, Holtec has said.
To bring the plant back online, Holtec also needs major regulatory relief from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, something the commission said last week could take at least a year.
