Move is part of ambitious project that began under Biden administration
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has made a third loan disbursement to Holtec International to help with the company’s plan to restart the shuttered single-unit Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan.
The Biden administration finalised an up to $1.52bn (€1.34bn) loan guarantee for the project in September 2024.
The DOE said in a statement on 22 April that the most recent disbursement totals about $46.7m.
In March the DOE approved a loan disbursement of nearly $57m to help restart Palisades, marking the Trump administration’s first significant financial commitment to the country’s nuclear revival effort. That followed the first disbursement of funds in January.
The DOE said Palisades, on the shores of Lake Michigan, will be the US’s first restart of a commercial nuclear reactor that had been shut down, but noted the move is subject to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing approvals. Moves to restart the plant began under the Biden administration.
“In advancing President Trump’s commitment to meet our growing demand for affordable, reliable and secure electricity, America needs to utilise all forms of energy that grow our economy, create new jobs, and secure energy independence,” said energy secretary Chris Wright.
“With projects like the Palisades nuclear plant, the Energy Department is working to ensure America’s nuclear renaissance is just around the corner.”
New Jersey-based Holtec is on track to restart operations at Palisades in October and the NRC expects to issue a final decision on the required licensing actions by 31 July.
Holtec bought Palisades to decommission the facility, which had struggled to compete with natural gas-fired plants and renewable energy. But in early 2023, Holtec applied to the DOE for federal loan funding to repower the plant.
The single-unit 805-MW pressurised water reactor unit ceased operations in May 2022. It will be brought back online and upgraded to produce power until at least 2051.
In addition to the main 805 MW reactor, Holtec intends to use the Palisades site as the location for its first two small modular reactor units, which would potentially add an additional 800 MW of generation capacity.
