COVERT, MI (WHTC/WKZO) – Palisades is not dead yet.
That’s the impression from the Dec. 4, 2023 announcement by current operators Holtec International that it would start a program to build two SMR-300 reactor units at the nuclear power facility in Covert, with the intention to file a construction permit in 2026, shortly after bringing the plant back on the electric grid in late 2025. Those units would be up and running in about a decade’s time, pending US Nuclear Regulatory Commission review.
When Palisades was decommissioned last year, it had been producing about 800 megawatts of power, with the new, smaller reactors generating at least 300 net megawatts each, with a thermal output of a thousand megawatts each. The original complex, which had been in operation for over 60 years, with a number of operating and structural issues during that time, was targeted by anti-nuclear groups as a symbol of all of the dangers this power source produces.
State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Lawton, in whose district Palisades lies, is looking forward to seeing the facility back up and running.
Holtec, who took over operating Palisades shortly after it was shut down by Entergy 17 months ago, is asking the NRC for a decision on whether to allow the plant to restart by the end of 2024.
