A Michigan nuclear power plant that was decommissioned in 2022 will become the first reactivated U.S. facility in the nation’s history.
The Biden Administration on Wednesday announced plans to provide a $1.52 billion loan to Holtect International, which could begin in 2025 and provide clean energy to at least 800,000 homes.
The Palisades plant, located along Lake Michigan, was closed two years ago over concerns about faulty seals on control rods that are needed to control the fission rate of uranium and plutonium.
However, the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the funds on the condition that Holtect meets technical, legal, environmental and financial requirements.
The Biden Administration on Wednesday announced plans to provide a $1.52 billion loan to Holtect International, which could begin operations in 2025 and could provide clean energy to at least 800,000 homes.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said Wednesday: ‘Nuclear energy is our largest source of carbon-free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs nationwide and hundreds of thousands more indirectly. .
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is supporting and expanding this vibrant clean energy workforce here in Michigan with significant funding for the Holtec Palisades nuclear power plant.”
The plant is in Van Buren County’s Covert, about 40 miles west of Kalamazoo, where about 3,000 people live.
The city spans thirty-five square miles and features dense forests and blueberry farms.
The plant is in Van Buren County’s Covert, about 40 miles west of Kalamazoo, where about 3,000 people live. The city spans thirty-five square miles, with dense forests and blueberry farms.
The median household income in the municipality was $22,829 and the median family income was $28,586.
Florida-based Holtec said the plant would employ more than 600 workers, and that about 45 percent of the workforce at the site would come from unions once it restarted.
And an additional 1,000 jobs are expected to be added over time.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: “Today, Holtec secured a conditional commitment of $1.5 billion for a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to reopen the Palisades nuclear power plant, protecting 600 good-paying jobs. and highly qualified and clean and reliable energy for 800,000 homes.
‘Once open, Palisades will be the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in U.S. history, generating a regional economic impact of $363 million and helping Michigan lead the future of clean energy.
‘I am very grateful to my bipartisan partners in the Michigan Legislature, the Biden-Harris Administration, Holtec, and unions for coming together to accomplish this.
“Together, we are showing the world that Michigan is a place where history is made by hard-working people.”
The restarted Palisades plant would avoid more than 4.47 million tons of carbon emissions annually, bringing the total to 111 million tons of CO2 emissions over the projected 25 years of operation.
The Palisades plant, located along Lake Michigan, was closed two years ago over concerns about faulty seals on control rods, which are needed to control the fission rate of uranium and plutonium.
That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of removing more than 970,000 gasoline-powered cars from the roads.
Those predictions would play an important role in the administration’s goal of decarbonizing the country’s power grid by 2035 and the entire economy by 2050.
The company also plans to build its first two small modular reactor (SMR) units at the site, which will not be part of the loan-eligible project.
Holtec Palisades has already signed long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) for full power production with rural electric cooperatives Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.
However, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared Palisades one of the four worst-performing plants in the country in 2012.
Construction of the plant began in 1967 and it was connected to the grid in 1971.