In a global first, a nuclear power plant in tiny Covert Township, Michigan, will be restarted to produce energy

Holtec Palisades is an 800-megawatt facility that is being prepared for a second chance.
(Holtec Palisades photo)

Covert Township, Michigan, has a way to make more green electricity than most small towns could ever dream up. The quiet community of 2,510 people is home to the Palisades Nuclear Generating Plant, which was closed in 2022, but has been given the green light to reopen, reports Eric Niiler of The Wall Street Journal. "When it reopens, Palisades will become the first decommissioned nuclear plant anywhere to be put back to work."

The Palisades Nuclear plant may look like a 1970s relic, but the federal government and the state of Michigan are working together to finance the reactor's second life. The reasons to reignite the plant are simple: "Soaring demand . . . and billions on offer in state and federal loans and tax subsidies for nuclear energy in infrastructure and green power investment programs, "Niiler explains. "Nuclear-produced electricity is also seen as more consistent than wind or solar."

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The residents of Covert and surrounding areas have had mixed responses to reopening plans. "Beyond Nuclear filed a petition last week asking the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a hearing to make their case against the restart of the plant," reports Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Public Radio. "Despite the opposition. . . The plan to restart Palisades has gotten broad support from local leaders. . . .The Covert Township board passed a resolution supporting the restart, and so has the city council in nearby South Haven."

Meanwhile, the company in charge of the Palisades' return to power, Holtec, has "experience only in decommissioning nuclear reactors. Restarting and operating Palisades would be its first such job," Niiler reports. Adam Eastridge, a senior operations manager for Holtec, told Niiler, "Being the first to restart a decommissioned nuclear plant, everybody is looking at us. We don’t let that distract us.”

White House shelves plan to prop up ailing coal and nuclear plants in the name of national security — for now

The Trump administration has shelved a major effort to help the coal industry on the advice of the president's advisors on the National Security Council and National Economic Council, according to four sources with knowledge of the discussions.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry proposed and promoted the plan, which would force power companies to keep unprofitable or barely profitable coal plants running for the sake of national security. But "Perry’s proposals — which would also keep aging nuclear power plants operating — have riled up the oil and gas industry, which has prospered as inexpensive natural gas has increasingly eaten away at coal’s share of U.S. power markets," Eric Wolff and Darius Dixon report for Politico. "Other critics include consumer groups worried about rising power bills for customers, environmental organizations concerned about the threat to wind and solar power, and conservative policy organizations that oppose what they see as heavy-handed federal intervention in the economy."

President Trump has argued that coal and nuclear power store their fuel on-site, making them less vulnerable to attack than oil and gas, which must use pipelines that are more easily attacked. But an Energy Department-ordered study that disagreed with that assessment was kept under wraps for the past six months after its submission.

Energy Department advisors have had a hard time deciding on a rubric for which plants get funding and who would pay. And without a solid legal justification, advisors are leery of enacting such a plan. But the plan may not be dead. "It is unclear whether Trump himself has decided against following Perry’s proposal. Even if he has, the sources warned that Trump frequently changes his mind, and the idea could re-emerge in advance of the president’s reelection campaign," Wolff and Dixon report.