The federal government will provide a $1.5 billion loan to restart a nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, officials announced Wednesday.

Holtec International acquired the 800-megawatt Palisades plant in 2022 with plans to dismantle it. But now the emphasis is on restarting it by late 2025, following support from the state of Michigan and the Biden administration.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said it would be the first nuclear power plant to be reopened in the U.S.

Originally Posted By JustinU235:
50/50.

I might actually be willing to bet against it.

Originally Posted By GoGo:
DTE Fermi 2 site was approved a couple years ago for a new plant, but DTE refuses to do anything.  Yeah, I know cost, etc.

I hope this does get re-started and even more so this green energy scam dies.

Originally Posted By fxntime:
Mi needs the power. The big utilities need to be bitch slapped from doing the rate increase surcharge daily in the summer [50% higher] but since they are stupid bitches that are libs, they applaud fvcking over the customers for green shit that doesn't work. [and they [utilities] don't even run 1/2 their windmills on peak power use days most of the time.

All that green stuff is a total scam for rate customers.

Originally Posted By MetalChef:
Lift the reprocessing ban(thanks Carter!), build next gen Reactors, use processed waste….

Profit!

Idiots in charge, they are…

Originally Posted By high_order1:
there's a reddit forum I found this on.

It sounds like they have a lot of shit to replace to make this one viable.

I was more remarking that they actually believe nrc will sign off on this and USG is loaning them money. Are they just taking the money and running? Rest of the article was suspiciously optimistic about nuke generation.

Originally Posted By fxntime:
Mi needs the power. The big utilities need to be bitch slapped from doing the rate increase surcharge daily in the summer [50% higher] but since they are stupid bitches that are libs, they applaud fvcking over the customers for green shit that doesn't work. [and they [utilities] don't even run 1/2 their windmills on peak power use days most of the time.

All that green stuff is a total scam for rate customers.

Originally Posted By Max429:
Michigan has too many overcast days

Originally Posted By wmagrush:


The roadblock to reprocessing is the shipment of spent fuel across country. Many communities and tree hugger activists will not allow it. That is why each plant has fuel in special built dry storage areas , when the pools are full or do not have space for a full core offload and replacement fuel. And due to the government promise of Yucca Mountain storage taken away, each year the power companies sue the government for operating expense reimbursement of the individual dry storage facilities.

Not knowing the safety analysis of the plant, there are always upgrades required form world experience from nuclear accidents. Most plants on salt water coastlines had to upgrade flooding and tidal surge safety after Fukushima. Do not know if a plant on the Great Lakes would have the same concern. If so, another chunk of money.

Holtec International is a multi function company. One of those functions is decommissioning of nuclear plants. The purchase of Pallasades by them was probably for that function, as the money for the decommissioning fund of a nuclear plant can be $500 million or more. If the government is willing to throw money at the plant to get it running, Holtec still has dibs on the decommissioning bank account for down the road.

Originally Posted By OldArtilleryman:
Yes, it's happening. It's only 9 miles down the beach from where I sit, within the 10-mile Protective Action Zone. Not to worry--prevailing west winds. Its said to have about 9 years remaining on its current license with option to apply for extension.
One benefit is that the company will print nice calendars each year for us that include various protective actions of which we're required to be informed. Still have our KI (potassium iodide) tablets.
We'll see if they eventually fire it up, as this process is said (by men I know who work there) to be an 18 - 24 month prospect.
Stand by...but don't hold your breath.

Michigian Holds Out Holtec's Nuclear Ambitions
While California’s ongoing battle to close down the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Plant and the realization that that couldn’t happen while California still needed that 2.5 GW of power has gotten the lion’s share of the media coverage, Michigan is the site of potentially more important news -- the first reopening of a previously shuttered nuclear power plant.

Back in Q2 2023, Holtec International, a company known for dismantling shuttered nuclear power plants, announced that they were looking to restart one of their more recent acquisitions, the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station.

The nuclear plant was commissioned at the end of 1971 and had been “permanently” shut down in May of 2022, with its operator no longer considering plant operation financially viable.


Holtec purchased the plant in June of 2022 and immediately applied for funds to reopen the facility. Within two months, that request for funding had been denied.

In September of last year, Holtec was able to sign two muilti-decade purchase agreements for power from the 800 MW plant with Wolverine Power Cooperative, a not-for-profit energy provider serving rural communities across Michigan, who agreed to purchase up to two-thirds of the plant’s power output; and Bloomington, Indiana-based cooperative Hoosier Energy, purchasing the rest.

Just getting the contract signed didn’t seem to be enough to get the company funding to restart the plant, and with the support of Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Holtec was able to get $150 million in state funding to keep its efforts to reopen the plant alive.

It's All About the Benjamins
But for an area such as Michigan with a need for additional power, good news was on the horizon. In early February it was announced that the federal government was expected to approve a $1.5 billion loan to restart the Holtec nuclear plant.


Holtec spokesman Nick Culp, on the importance of hitting government goals for clean energy, told Bloomberg News, “Palisades and nuclear power plants like it are essential to achieving those target goals, while also making sure that we have a reliable electricity that all of us depend on.”

While there are few facilities taken offline as recently as Palisades, there are dozens of previously NRC-approved locations for new nuclear facilities that were never further developed due to costs and a lack of perceived need.

Many of those locations are for additional reactors co-located with existing nuclear power plants. The fact that the locations are approved means that a significant part of the pre-construction process for any commercial nuclear facility has already been addressed.

Originally Posted By wmagrush:
Way too many systems that have been drained or mothballed, surveillance procedures that have been discontinued. Water chemistry, except for the spent fuel cooling, probably has not been kept up, and the inside of secondary piping rusting.

If the main turbine hasn't been on a turning gear, then the shaft could be bowed and turbine blades touching the turbine shell distorting them.

Just thinking how many times Bellefonte was promised by the government to be finished and started.

Originally Posted By Foxtrot08:
Sometimes, hands get forced.


The renewable scam is coming up. They’ll be on the next scam soon.  Don’t worry. Probably be AI related.

Originally Posted By PlaysWithAtoms:


My recent discussions with NRC indicate they are not only okay with it, they are curiously expecting someone to start.  There are at least two companies actively pursuing reprocessing.  Something has changed in the political landscape.

Originally Posted By PlaysWithAtoms:


My recent discussions with NRC indicate they are not only okay with it, they are curiously expecting someone to start.  There are at least two companies actively pursuing reprocessing.  Something has changed in the political landscape.

Originally Posted By wmagrush:
Ten to 15 years ago it was the cheap natural gas units that shut down a few nuclear plants. Natural gas killed Kewaunee nuclear. Now natural gas is bad, and expensive to the point some are saying nuclear is a cheaper alternative.

Every change in the wind for energy production is money in someone’s pocket.

Concerning ISFSI, there is a contractor in Texas willing to consolidate all US dry storage in one place, but shipping a 130 ton cask of nuclear fuel is highly politicized by the tree huggers. Our plant has shipped small containers of spent fuel between states when the core loading configuration required it. The shielded containers were smaller and didn’t get the attention of the protesters.

Sounds like Holtec could be another Solyndra boondoggle. Holtec asking for a $7 billion loan from the feds to develop a ‘new’ reactor system at the Palisades site, not restart the existing nuke until recently.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holtec_International

Originally Posted By JustinU235:
50/50.

I might actually be willing to bet against it.