The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert, Mich., is pictured on June 24, 2010. A company seeking to repower the southwestern Michigan nuclear power plant said Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, that it has taken a major step forward with the signing of a power purchase agreement.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced in a press release the closing of a loan guarantee of up to $1.52 billion to resurrect Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Michigan.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture also announced more than $1.3 billion to Wolverine power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy, to reduce the cost of electricity passed on to their members for clean power from Holtec Palisades and other clean energy sources.
Jackson County REMC and Southeastern REMC are among the member cooperatives receiving electricity from Hoosier Energy.
Hoosier Energy will pass 100% of the New ERA grant funds directly through to the homes and businesses served by their member electric cooperatives.
“Nuclear power is America’s largest source of carbon-free of electricity, supporting hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the country and will play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis and protecting public health and the environment from its impacts,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
The Palisades Nuclear Plant, which ceased operations in May 2022, will be the first recommissioning of a retired nuclear power plant in U.S. history. The restart of the plant is planned in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The plant will be upgraded to produce clean baseload power until at least 2051.
“This project will bring a retired nuclear power plant back to life for the first time in American history and deliver reliable, affordable clean power to rural areas in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois — showing how the Inflation Reduction Act is revitalizing communities across the Midwest,” said John Podesta, senior advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Today’s investments will create good-paying, union jobs — many of them for workers who’ve been at the plant for more than two decades.”
This push could include the potential reopening of some commercial reactors that have been shut for decommissioning, including one at Three Mile Island, site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.
A plan by Microsoft to restart the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island to help power its expanding data centers hopes nuclear energy can be a climate-friendly answer to rising electricity needs and demands. The resurrection of Three Mile Island could take several years.
The restart of Holtec Palisades is projected to create or retain up to 600 jobs in Michigan, according to a news release from the DOE and USDA.
In addition to the workers supported by the facility’s restart, the loan guarantee will support more than 1,000 jobs during the facility’s regularly scheduled refueling and maintenance periods every 18 months. Holtec Palisades has a project labor agreement in place with 15 trade unions that are supporting the project.
The plant restart will also help fight the climate crisis with an anticipated 4.47 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided per year for a total of 111 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the projected 25 years of operations — an amount roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 882,000 homes.
Reducing fossil fuel-based electricity generation also reduces other harmful pollution that is often released during the process and can cause or contribute to local health impacts, according to the news release.