The USA’s Palisades NPP in Covert Township, Michigan, has received 68 nuclear fuel assemblies, marking a key milestone on the path to restarting the plant. Procuring new fuel was among the earliest long-lead activities in the project, requiring months of technical preparation and regulatory coordination.
In September Department of Energy’s (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright released the sixth loan disbursement to Holtec to help fund restart of the plant. DOE said this disburses $155,944,659 of the up to $1.52bn loan guarantee to Holtec for Palisades, which will be the first restart of a US commercial nuclear reactor in decommissioning, subject to US (NRC) approvals. In August, the plant officially transitioned from decommissioning to operational status under NRC oversight following approval of Holtec’s licensing package to reauthorise power operations.
The single-unit 800 MWe pressurised water reactor on the shores of Lake Michigan began commercial operation in 1971. In 2016 operator Entergy announced plans to close the plant. In 2021 NRC approved transfer of the licence from Entergy to Holtec in preparation for its decommissioning. The reactor was removed from service by Entergy in May 2022, and defueled, and its sale to Holtec completed in June 2022. However, Holtec then announced that it was applying for federal funding to allow restart of the plant.
Holtec said the fuel was fabricated domestically by “a highly respected nuclear fuel manufacturer that has supplied Palisades and others in the nuclear industry for decades”. Upon arrival and in-depth quality inspection, the accepted batch of fuel was placed in secure storage within the Used Fuel Pool Building where it will remain until loading begins.
In parallel, major equipment restoration work is underway across the plant. This includes reassembly of the Main Turbine Generator is underway following more than a year of inspection, testing, and maintenance work. In another notable achievement, the Plant has recently received and installed the second (and last) fully refurbished Primary Coolant Pump (PCP) motor, which is essential to recirculate the reactor coolant.
Further restorative work includes the chemical cleaning of the secondary side of the Steam Generators. This work effort follows successful completion of refurbishing of the Steam Generators’ tubes earlier this summer and is intended to ensure long-term reliability and efficiency of the plant.
“The esprit de corps of our tirelessly toiling worker force, over 1,800 strong boosted by the stout support of federal, state, and local government as well as our industry partners, labour, and the Southwest Michigan community, is a testament to the national consensus and our collective will to harness nuclear energy to meet the galloping demand for power in our country,” said Holtec CEO, Dr Kris Singh.
Ordering fuel years in advance is one of the first steps in preparing for the nuclear plant to restart, said Holtec spokesman Nick Culp.
The new fuel assemblies are not enough to completely power the facility. In addition, 136 partially used fuel assemblies stored in the used fuel pool will be returned to the reactor core to reach the optimal mix for restart, Culp noted. These had been removed from the core in June 2022 following the power plant’s shutdown. They were used in the last two operating cycles.
