The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has greenlit the retired Palisades Nuclear Plant’s transition back to an operating license.
The July 24 approval is a key milestone on the path to an unprecedented goal — bringing a reactor that had been in line for decommissioning back online and into full service.
It allows Holtec International to receive new fuel at the site and formally transition licensed operators to on-shift status, and it moves the facility closer to a full restart, which Holtec hopes to achieve in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Holtec on July 1 informed the NRC that it was ready to transition to the Power Operations Licensing Basis.
The NRC said July 24 it had determined the application complied with regulations, that the facility would operate in conformity with regulations and that operation would not be detrimental to public safety, health and security (Docket No. 50-255).
“This is a proud and historic moment for our team, for Michigan, and for the United States,” Holtec International President Kelly Trice said later in the day. “The NRC’s approval to transition Palisades back to an operating license represents an unprecedented milestone in U.S. nuclear energy.”
Activists opposed to nuclear energy in general — and to the restart of the aged Palisades plant in particular — had the opposite reaction.
Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear said: “The zombie reactor restart scheme is unneeded, insanely expensive for the public and extremely high risk for health, safety, security and the environment.”
The NRC’s July 24 decision is not the end of the matter, he added: “We will exhaust all administrative remedies at NRC and then appeal to the federal courts. Our fight against this dangerous nuclear experiment on the Great Lakes shoreline is not over.”
Further regulatory approvals are needed, but Holtec is making steady progress, with the Trump administration continuing support extended by the Biden administration and ordering the NRC to streamline and speed its review processes.
Holtec plans to follow the Palisades restart with construction of small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear facilities in Michigan and elsewhere.
A wave of reactor retirements swept the industry as facilities aged and their expensive electricity became uncompetitive. Holtec bought three of these retired facilities, then purchased Palisades from Entergy in mid-2022, shortly after it ceased operation.
Subsidiary Holtec Decommissioning International would hold the license and be the prime decommissioning contractor.
But with major changes to the energy market on the horizon, Holtec soon decided to instead undertake a restart of the 800-MW plant, first licensed in 1971.
The effort gained momentum in 2023 as Wolverine Power Cooperative signed a power purchase agreement for up to two-thirds of the plant’s output.
Approximately 600 full-time nuclear workers are on site as the restart effort nears the finish line, along with roughly 1,000 trades workers, vendors and suppliers, Holtec said July 17.
The restart effort was unprecedented at the outset but no longer is unique.
There are only two other retired U.S. reactors believed to be candidates for restart.
Constellation Energy is spending $1.6 billion to bring the circa-1974 Three Mile Island Unit 1 back online by 2027. The reactor ceased operation in September 2019 for economic reasons and is being brought back for economic reasons: Microsoft wants its steady carbon-free power for its data centers and is willing to bear the costs.
NextEra Energy shut down its circa-1974 Duane Arnold nuclear plant in 2020 after storm damage but expressed interest to the NRC in early 2025 about a potential restart. CEO John Ketchum said recently that engineering studies are progressing favorably, and the company is talking to potential buyers for the electricity it would produce, should it restart.
