Miles SmithThe Department of Energy (DOE) is continuing its $1.52 billion push to bring a decommissioned nuclear power plant back online.
The DOE recently released its fifth loan disbursement to Holtec International — an $83.2 million payment on an up-to $1.52-billion loan guarantee for the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan.
If Holtec succeeds in bringing Palisades back online this year, it would be the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to restart after being closed down.
Since September 2024, $335.1 million of DOE-guaranteed loan funds have been disbursed to Holtec.
Located on Lake Michigan and a two-hour drive from Chicago, the Palisades plant started producing electricity on New Year’s Eve 1971. It was shuttered a half-century later in May 2022 by Entergy because of cost issues.
The nuclear plant was America’s eighth-oldest at the time of its closing and had a history of temporary shutdowns due to equipment failures.
Palisades is not the only shuttered reactor that’s being considered for reopening as part of the U.S. strategy to resuscitate its nuclear industry.
Microsoft in 2024 announced a multibillion-dollar plan with plant operator Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania by 2028. The plant had been decommissioned in 2019 because of poor economics.
Power provider NextEra Energy is also considering restarting Iowa’s only nuclear plant at the Duane Arnold Energy Center. The 50-year-old reactor closed in 2020 because of storm damage and cost issues.
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