Project could mark first recommissioning of retired nuclear power plant in US
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released the sixth loan disbursement to Holtec International towards completing the country’s first commercial nuclear reactor restart at the Palisades nuclear station in Michigan.
A statement said the DOE has disbursed a further $155.9m (€131.6m) of the up to $1.52bn loan guarantee to Holtec for Palisades, which will be the first restart of a commercial nuclear reactor in decommissioning in the US, subject to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approvals.
The DOE has now disbursed more than $491m of the total across the six tranches: $38m in January 2025, $56.8m (March), $46.7m (April), $100.5m (June) and $83.2 million (August); $155.9m (September).
Palisades, a single 805-MW pressurised water reactor unit in Covert Township, Michigan, was originally shut down in May 2022 and is set to return to service and operate until at least 2051.
It began commercial operation in 2022 and ceased operations in May 2022.
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.
In late 2023, Holtec began filing licensing and regulatory requests to support returning the plant to operational status.
The funding was finalised under the Biden administration in September 2024, but the Trump administration has maintained disbursement schedules, framing Palisades as a cornerstone of Trump’s Executive Order 14302, ‘Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base’.
The May 2025 executive order calls for 300 GW of new US nuclear capacity by 2050 and establishes 18-month regulatory timelines for reactor licensing decisions.
Holtec has said it might also 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.
Last month Palisades officially returned to operational status after being in decommissioning for three years – marking the first time in the US that a shut-down reactor has returned to operations.
The plant is not yet generating electricity, but the change in status means it can now receive new fuel to power the reactor once the final inspections and reassembly of the plant is complete.
The Palisades nuclear power station in Michigan. Courtesy Holtec International.
