Nuclear power as a means of energy production has in recent decades become a taboo topic in the minds of many Americans. Despite having developed into the world’s cleanest method of generating electricity, western nations continue to abandon and decommission nuclear power plants in favor of less reliable and more expensive “green energy.”
To combat this unscientific and economically illiterate move, CFACT campus representative Darren Fife attending Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, recently penned a superb op-ed for a local newspaper. Advocating for recently announced plans to recommission the Palisades Power Plant near South Haven, Michigan, Darren hopes his article will shore up community support for the project. His piece is available to read in full below:
Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power station 5 miles south of South Haven on the shores of Lake Michigan. It was removed from service on May 20, 2022 after safely and reliably generating 800 megawatts of power, enough to power 600,000 homes, for 50 years after beginning commercial operation in 1971. This occurred 5 years following its initial announcement in 2017, when Consumers Energy’s 15 year contract to buy the produced energy ended. While in operation, Palisades provided 600 high quality jobs and reliable energy to western Michigan.
I was personally saddened by the news of the shutdown because I know how hard working the employees of nuclear power plants are, thanks to my connection to western Michigan’s other nuclear power plant, DC Cook. DC Cook provides guided tours of their facility, which I am grateful to have participated in. When I was on the tour I was impressed by the scale of the systems and safety measures in place to protect the public. I was able to see firsthand the attention to detail and work put into safely operating the reactors at DC Cook, and I am sure that the engineers of Palisades worked with the same level of conviction and duty.
However, I was greatly enthused when it was recently announced that Palisades’ main reactor will be recommissioned with assistance from a $1.5 billion in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. This unexpected announcement marks Palisades to become the first repowered nuclear reactor in the U.S. Instead of being decommissioned, the existing Palisades plant is being refurbished and is on track to be fully operational by the end of 2025. If all goes well, the facility will continue providing safe and reliable service for the coming decades. The current owner of the plant, Holtec, has decided to retain some 260 original employees from before the plant’s decommissioning. Saving hundreds of jobs, they will continue to be employed in the next phases of repowering the reactor. Wolverine Rural Electric Cooperative has agreed to buy two thirds of the 800 megawatts of power from Palisades main reactor to be distributed to local communities.
Additionally, two 300 megawatt small modular nuclear reactors are planned to be built on the site following the recommissioning of the main reactor. Holtec plans to file a Construction Permit Application for them in 2026 and hope to have them online by 2030. This, of course, will be subject to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s oversight. These small modular reactors are expected to be the United States’ nuclear power industry’s first experiment with land-based small modular reactors. It should be noted however that small modular reactors are not entirely new technology. Smaller sized nuclear reactors have been used reliably in U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines since 1955. While not modular, this use shows that nuclear power can be generated at a smaller scale reliably. These small nuclear reactors at Palisades will benefit from the larger main reactor’s infrastructure already in place, which in turn will help keep their construction price down.
Overall, repowering Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is a good thing for the community of western Michigan as it will help provide reliable, clean, and safe energy for the coming decades. Additionally, the planned expansion of the plant with two small modular reactors points towards a good use of the already existing infrastructure. Hopefully, Palisades reopening is a trailblazing event that paves the way for additional nuclear power plants to be built in the United States, as nuclear reactors are the cleanest way to provide reliable power baseline which promotes human prosperity.
– Written by Darren Fife, CFACT Campus Representative
