The US the Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a US$1.52bn loan guarantee to Holtec International to support the recommissioning of the 800 MW Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Michigan (United States). The funding will be used to bolster inspections, testing, restoration, rebuilding, and replacement of existing equipment at Palisades. The power plant should have an upgraded Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor (PWR) that could produce baseload power until 2051 as part of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) resource mix. The power plant is expected to be recommissioned by the end of 2025, subject to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing. The plant could save about 4.5 Mt/year in CO2 emissions, or a total or 111 MtCO2 for the combined 25 years of operations projected for the power plant.
The loan is financed through the Inflation Reduction Act’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) and is accompanied by US$1.3bn in funding for two rural non-profit electric cooperatives –Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy– to purchase power from Palisades.
There are 95 nuclear reactors currently in operation in the US for a total capacity of over 97 GW. Nuclear accounted for 18% of the US' total generation in 2022 and 2023.
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