NRC approvals move Palisades nuclear plant closer to restart

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday granted multiple licensing and regulatory approvals necessary for the 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan to restart operations later this year.

Palisades is now authorized to receive new fuel and formally transition licensed reactor operators to on-shift status, Holtec International said in a statement. The company is leading the effort to restart the plant.

“The NRC’s approval to transition Palisades back to an operating license represents an unprecedented milestone in U.S. nuclear energy,” Holtec President Kelly Trice said. Palisades would be the first U.S. plant to be brought back online after decommissioning.

NRC noted that there are still several licensing actions under review “and additional requirements that need to be met before the plant can start up under the original operating license, which would expire March 24, 2031.”

The nuclear regulator also said it has approved the transfer of operating authority for the plant and its independent spent fuel storage facility from Holtec Decommissioning International to Palisades Energy. And, it approved Holtec’s request to reinstate various documents and programs that were in place prior to shut down.

In May, NRC concluded Holtec’s efforts to restart the plant pose “no significant impact” to the human environment, a key finding in the effort to restart the facility.

Entergy, the former owner of Palisades, shuttered the plant in May 2022 and sold it to Holtec the following month. Holtec made the first public moves toward restarting the plant in late 2023. As electricity demand has begun to rise, owners of two other recently-shuttered U.S. nuclear power plants have since moved to restart them.

Backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft, Constellation Energy said in September it will restart the undamaged 835-MW reactor at Three Mile Island — now called the Crane Clean Energy Center — by 2028. And NextEra Energy has taken preliminary steps to restart the 600-MW reactor at its Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, which shuttered in 2020.