The Palisades nuclear reactor was permanently shut down on May 20, 2022, which was 11 days earlier than its scheduled closure date due to a performance issue with a control rod drive seal. Entergy was its operator at the time.
Palisades entered decommissioning status and ownership transferred to Holtec International. Holtec has gotten NRC approval to restart the 800 MW Michigan plant.
Palisades entered decommissioning status and ownership transferred to Holtec International, which has since announced plans to restart the plant. It was only mothballed. Holtec has described the restart process as similar to an extended regular refueling outage, which normally takes around 30 days, though some additional work is needed. It should be operating again by October 2025.
Last year, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office finalized a deal to give Holtec $1.52 billion to bring the 55-year-old, 800-megawatt pressurized water reactor back online.
Now Holtec plans to nearly double the electricity output from Palisades by building two of its own small modular reactors, or SMRs, at the site.
Holtec has blueprints for a pair of its proprietary SMR-300s and announced Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. — the South Korean firm already working with the Florida-based Holtec to develop its 300-MW units.
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I wonder if there would be enough interest by municipalities to locate data centers nearby, if the excess heat could be distributed to a business district for heating and cooling?
There really isn’t excess heat to speak of. Looking at my rotten condensers this summer morning, the condensate is 130F. Also, building new infrastructure for a 45 year old plant to distribute heat to a rural area in Michigan is not something that would happen for a number of reasons including licensing complications (you’d be modifying the heat sink), cost, benefit, etc.
This is great news. If the modular reactors prove out, and the costs are reasonable, we might be able to keep up with AI energy demand.
Per neutronbytes, Holtec will have public IPO by the end of the year. Could be a good investment.