Palisades owner plans for two more reactors at shuttered nuclear plant on Lake Michigan

A nuclear power company seeking to restart the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in southwest Michigan has plans to build two additional small reactors to nearly double the capacity of the site.

Holtec International announced it would start the program to build two SMR-300 reactor units at the Lake Michigan facility in Covert Township and intends to file a construction permit application in 2026, shortly after the Palisades plant is brought back online in late 2025.

Holtec hopes to have the smaller reactor units up and running by mid-2030, pending the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review.

The existing plant produces about 800 megawatts, while the new reactors will produce a minimum of 300 megawatts each in net electric power and a thermal output per reactor of 1,000 megawatts.

"By building at our own site with our own credit and our own at-risk funds, we hope to deliver the dual-unit SMR-300 plant within schedule and budget – an outcome that has eluded our industry for a long time. We thank our federal, state, and community partners for their critical support, which have made the Palisades re-start and our pioneering SMR-300 construction in Michigan feasible,” said Kris Singh, Holtec’s CEO.

State Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, said the investment was proof of the "dividends" the power plant would pay once restarted.

"Not only will the initial restart mean the preservation of hundreds of high-paying jobs, constructing and employing two new reactors will put more of our friends and neighbors to work and help us reach our 2040 new clean energy goals," Andrews said in a statement.

The SMR-300's that Holtec plans to add to the Palisades plant are considered simplified, modular reactors that rely on an existing factory environment and pre-built assemblies. Holtec added its first SMR manufacturing facility in Camden, New Jersey, which is expected to be the first of several similar facilities in the U.S. and globally, the company said.

While the SMR-300 uses water as cooling medium, it is also built to have the option of rejecting waste heat through air-cooled condensers instead of a large body of water.

Holtec submitted paperwork in October to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make the shuttered Palisades plan the first in the nation to reverse the decommissioning process; the filing was the first in a series of requests the company will make to restart the plant. The company asked the commission to decide before the end of 2024.

Holtec bought the plan from Entergy in June 2022, two months after the plant had been shut down and defueled. Decommissioning work has continued since then through a trust fund paid for by Consumers Energy customers when the utility purchased the plant. Holtec is paying for efforts to restart the plant but needs Nuclear Regulatory Commission approvals to reauthorize the placement of fuel in the Palisades reactor vessel and reauthorize power operations at the plant.

State lawmakers and Michigan officials have generally been supportive of the restart. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vouched her approval of the restoration of the plan and Michigan lawmakers set aside $150 million for reopening the plant in the 2024 state budget so long as the effort also gains some federal support.

In September, Holtec announced it had two energy cooperatives willing to buy the power produced by the plant: Indiana-based Hoosier Energy and Northern Michigan's Wolverine Power Cooperative.

Staff writer Carol Thompson contributed

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