The fate of a recently-shuttered nuclear power plant in Michigan is in the Department of Energy’s hands this week after the company tasked with decommissioning the site announced that it had applied for a federal bailout to explore restarting the facility.
Holtec International, which currently owns Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, told RadWaste Monitor Sunday that, following a campaign from the state government, it had applied for a portion of DOE’s roughly $6 billion civil nuclear credits program in hopes of finding an interested buyer to restart the plant.
Despite that development, there are still some hurdles to clear before the agency greenlights a bailout.
According to DOE guidelines for its bailout program, first published in April and updated in June, the agency plans to review each credit application for eligibility. As part of that process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must “indicate to the DOE whether they have reasonable assurance that the Nuclear Reactor will continue to operate in accordance with their current licensing basis … and pose no significant safety hazards.”
NRC affirmed that responsibility in a memorandum of understanding between the agencies, published Thursday. The civilian nuclear safety regulator also noted that its review of applicants’ licenses will be based on its current status under NRC’s licensing and regulatory oversight programs.
The commission “will not undertake any new licensing or regulatory reviews for purposes of the Civil Nuclear Credit Program certification process,” the memorandum said.
The Covert, Mich., Palisades plant shut down May 20. Holtec currently holds an NRC license to operate the facility, which does not mention electricity generation.
A spokesperson for NRC declined to comment on whether the agency could give a reasonable assurance that Palisades would continue to operate in line with licensing standards as prescribed by DOE’s certification review.
“While there remains a license to operate, the plant is shut down,” the NRC spokesperson told RadWaste Monitor Thursday.
The spokesperson added that “no nuclear power plant, anywhere in the U.S., regardless of its operating status, would be permitted to operate without reasonable assurances of adequate safety.”
A DOE spokesperson declined Friday to comment on whether the agency would consider granting a bailout to a nuclear plant that is currently offline.
According to DOE’s eligibility guidelines, nuclear plant operators must have announced their intent to retire their facilities by November 2021, and the reactor must be scheduled to go offline before September 2026. Former Palisades operator Entergy Corp. announced in 2018 that it would shutter the plant, which shut down in May.
Meanwhile, Holtec told RadWaste Monitor Sunday that it plans to work with the state of Michigan, the federal government and “a yet to be identified third-party operator to see if this is a viable option.”
The company listed a number of challenges standing in the way of a Palisades restart, including a “financial commitment from the State of Michigan,” as well as required maintenance and staffing.
State Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said in a press release dated Sep. 9 that keeping Palisades online “is a top priority for the State of Michigan.”
“Today, because of the actions of Holtec, we have a path forward to save Palisades, secure 1,700 jobs, and help fight climate change by generating more clean energy,” Whitmer told energy secretary Jennifer Granholm in a Sep. 9 letter.
If DOE grants Holtec a credit for Palisades, Lansing plans to take steps to help the plant restart, “including identifying state funding and facilitating a power purchase agreement,” Whitmer said.
While it was still operating, Palisades employed around 600 people. Former operator Entergy told RadWaste Monitor in April that around 260 workers, around 40%, would remain on-site “as part of the first phase of decommissioning.” Of the 334 employees not staying at Palisades, around 130 relocated to other roles within the company and 180 or so separated from Entergy completely.
A spokesperson for Holtec told RadWaste Monitor Sunday that staffing at the plant, if it were to reopen, is “to be determined.”
“While our expertise in decommissioning was the main driver to acquiring the plant, we remain committed to assisting the State of Michigan and the country at large maintain clean, carbon-free energy production sources to meet the country’s energy needs,” Holtec said Sunday.
Since the Covert, Mich., plant closed May 20, Lansing has been scrambling to lock down someone to submit a bailout request to DOE before the agency’s Sep. 6 deadline.
It’s a job that Entergy was not keen to take on, as CEO Leo Denault explained in an April earnings call with investors.
“There’s a lot of work that will need to be done at the plant to prepare it to operate beyond [May],” Denault said, “and we really haven’t done any investigation into what that work would be, because we’ve been planning for five years to shut the plant down.
“We couldn’t be more supportive of the fact that continued operations of the country’s nuclear fleet are important,” Denault said at the time. “I’m encouraged by what DOE’s got going on for future plants, but at this stage with Palisades it’s just a really heavy lift.”
