BENTON HARBOR — To say a proposal to recommission a nuclear power plant in southwest Michigan is audacious could be selling it short — should the Palisades plant be brought back online, it would be the first nuclear-powered facility in the U.S. scheduled for decommissioning ever to become operational again.
The company trying to get Palisades operational, Holtec International, celebrated in March when it secured a $1.5 billion conditional loan from the U.S. Department of Energy . The federal funding is seen as a crucial get toward Palisades’ reopening. At the event, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm touted the 800-megawatt plant’s reopening as both a boon for the local economy and an instrumental tool for clean energy generation, since nuclear energy generation doesn’t produce the carbon emissions that gas- and coal-fired power plants do.
But before Palisades can resume energy generation, Holtec must secure regulatory approval. And despite support from a swath of state and local government officials, there are some residents of the communities near the plant who want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) not to skip any steps as it considers Holtec’s application, telling agency staff Thursday they have concerns about the environmental and safety ramifications of reopening the plant.
NRC staff held an environmental “scoping” meeting Thursday in Benton Harbor, about a 20-minute drive from the Palisades plant in Covert Township. The meeting was among the first steps of the NRC's environmental review, where agency staff will evaluate the potential effect of the plant’s recommissioning on a number of areas, among them the local surface water, groundwater and air quality.
“As a whole, we have to look at the benefits and adverse effects of the project,” said Laura Willingham, an environmental project manager at the NRC.
The NRC's aim is to have the environmental review finalized in a year, and then the NRC will take it into account alongside a safety review before deciding whether to give Holtec a license to operate Palisades.
At the meeting, attended by a few dozen people, speakers were split among support and trepidation for the plant’s reopening. Some, like Darby Fencer of nearby Kalamazoo County, echoed comments about the need for cleaner energy generation in the wake of climate change.
“It is time to embrace the clean option, nuclear energy and the reopening of Palisades,” Fencer said. A slew of local government officials, including from Covert Township and Van Buren County, where the plant is located, spoke in favor of its recommissioning.
Others, however, brought up safety concerns surrounding the plant’s potential restart. When it closed, Palisades was one of the oldest operating nuclear plants in the country , having first been licensed in 1971.
“There’s no road map for this because you’ve never done it,” said Cindy Cordelle, a resident of the lakeshore Palisades Park community in Covert Township. “When you do this road map, let’s make sure it’s at least as critical as a plant getting recertified.”
The age of the Palisades plant also caused skepticism among some residents – Tom Flynn, another Palisades Park resident, said the facility’s previous owner managed the final years of the plant with decommissioning in mind.
“There’s no way this plant should restart if it doesn’t meet the current safety standards,” Flynn said.
Palisades ceased generating power in May 2022, a bit more than a week earlier than scheduled, after its previous owner Entergy Corp. reported issues with a control rod drive seal. Control rods are used to control the speed of the reactions that generate nuclear fission, and in turn nuclear energy. The devices are considered imperative to reactor safety, according to the Energy Education project at the University of Calgary .
Palisades operated in the NRC’s highest safety category when it was up and running and adheres to the federal safety standards set by the agency, Holtec officials note. One speaker raised concern over the "embrittlement" of the nuclear fuel container at Palisades, but an agency spokesperson said the NRC was satisfied the embrittlement was not a safety concern when the plant was operational. Should the plant receive a license to generate power again, the spokesperson said the NRC will continue to evaluate the embrittlement.
"All the available evidence we have suggests that any U.S. reactor can continue to safely operate at least 60 years, with the issue of the reactor vessel," NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell told the Free Press.
The NRC most recently renewed Palisades’ license in 2007, that license would have been good through 2031 had the plant not been decommissioned and had its fuel removed.
Holtec bought the plant from Entergy in 2022 with the intent to decommission Palisades, but asked the NRC last year if it could resume power generation. Along with the federal support, the state earmarked $150 million for Palisades’ reopening in its fiscal year 2024 budget.
Holtec also aims to construct two new small modular reactors by 2030, doubling the energy generation capacity at Palisades. That plan is also subject to regulatory approval.
Clean energy generation is touted as a benefit of nuclear power, but some environmentalists debate its benefits. The waste created by nuclear generation is hazardous, and nuclear power plants are expensive to build and operate, according to the Institute for Progress, a Washington-based think tank. And although the nuclear fission that creates energy does not create carbon emissions, fossil fuels are used to mine, refine and transport uranium needed for energy generation.
The NRC has set a July 29 deadline for members of the public to submit comments. Comments can be emailed to PalisadesRestartEnvironmental@nrc.gov , and submitted online at regulations.gov, at docket ID NRC-2024-0076.
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: First potential nuclear plant restart in US raises environmental questions in Michigan
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