Federal regulators talk environmental impacts of possible Palisades reopening

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — A public meeting was held Thursday to hear the community’s input on whether or the Palisades power plant should reopen.

The meeting brought members of the community out to learn more about an environmental review being conducted on the Palisades power plant’s potential reopening.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held the meeting in an attempt to discuss the potential environmental impacts that the plant’s reopening could have if accomplished.

“We are taking the time to come out into the community to talk about the environmental review and where we are in that process is right at the beginning,” NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell said.

The plant closed operations back in May of 2022. Ever since, Holtec International has filed several requests for licensing which, if approved, would return the plant back to operational status. The environmental review and the public meeting are just part of the requirements.

“My concern, though, is its old. They shut it down for a reason. Never once in our history have, we reopened a power plant, it just doesn’t happen. Do I want the first to be in my backyard? Not really,” Allegan County resident Jaclyn Haulst said.

At the meeting, environmental concerns were one of the key topics the panelists presented for the community to hear.

“Palisades is a clean source of energy, it’s 100% carbon free. So when we are talking about climate change and also keeping the lights on, we are a key solution for the state of Michigan,” Senior Manager for Government Affairs for Holtec Palisades Nick Culp said.

But members like Haulst disagreed.

“Am I convinced that it is clean energy? I’m not, I’m not convinced that nuclear is clean energy,” she said. “We just had a power outage for a tree that fell on our power lines. So, you can have all the power in the world.  But if our infrastructure is poor and it cant get to people’s homes than it doesn’t matter how many power plants you have.”

This meeting was just the first phase in a long process ahead that left many eager for what will come next.

“We have to do our due diligence for both the environmental and the safety side,” Burnell said. “So, we will do our review, it will take the time that it takes, and we understand the urgency in the part of Holtec and the state of Michigan in seeing if Palisades can be brought back online.  As things move forward, we will see how the schedule progresses.”

Burnell said they hope to have a draft of the review completed by early 2025 then have the final decision made by the end of 2025.

The deadline to submit public comment is July 29, that can be done on Regulations.gov with Docket ID NRC-2024-0076.

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