US energy utility Entergy will sell the 800 MWe Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan (United States) and the 680 MWe Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth (Massachusetts, US) to a subsidiary of Holtec International, which will be responsible for the decommissioning of the units. The transaction encompasses the licenses and the spent fuel. Pilgrim is expected to be decommissioned by 2020, while the shutdown of Palisades is scheduled for 2022.
Pilgrim came onstream in 1972 and was purchased by Entergy in 1999 from Boston Edison. Palisades began delivering power in 1971 and was acquired by Entergy in 2007 from Consumers Energy. It operates under the framework of a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) that expires in the spring of 2022.
The transaction also includes the Big Rock nuclear power plant site. The facility operated between 1962 and 1997 and its dismantlement was completed in 1999. Entergy acquired it from Consumers Energy in 2007 as part of the Palisades transaction.