Palisades Nuclear Generating Station
The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station is a moth-balled nuclear power plant located on Lake Michigan, in Van Buren County's Covert Township, Michigan, on a 432-acre (175 ha) site 5 miles (8.0 km) south of South Haven, Michigan, USA. Palisades was operated by the Nuclear Management Company and owned by CMS Energy Corporation prior to the sale to Entergy on April 11, 2007.
| Palisades Nuclear Power Plant | |
|---|---|
Palisades Power Plant in 1974 | |
| Official name | Palisades Power Plant |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Covert Township, Van Buren County, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 42°19′22″N 86°18′52″W |
| Status | Shut down |
| Construction began | March 12, 1967 |
| Commission date | December 29, 1971 |
| Decommission date | May 20, 2022 (Permanent shutdown - being reversed) |
| Construction cost | $630 million (2007 USD) |
| Owner(s) | Holtec International |
| Operator(s) | Entergy Nuclear (former) |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | Combustion Engineering |
| Cooling towers | 2 × mechanical draft cooling towers |
| Cooling source | Lake Michigan |
| Thermal capacity | 1 × 2565 MWth |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 × 805 MWe |
| Make and model | CE 2-loop (DRYAMB) |
| Nameplate capacity | 805 MWe |
| Capacity factor | 99.2% (2021) 72.2% (lifetime) |
| Annual net output | 7,014 GWh (2021) |
| External links | |
| Website | Palisades Power Plant (plant page) Palisades Power Plant (plant site) |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Its single Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor weighs 425 tons and has steel walls 8+1⁄2 inches (220 mm) thick. The containment building is 116 feet (35 m) in diameter and 189 feet (58 m) tall, including the dome. Its concrete walls are 3+1⁄2 feet (1.1 m) thick with a 1⁄4-inch-thick (6.4 mm) steel liner plate. The dome roof is 3 feet (0.91 m) thick. Access is via a personnel lock measuring 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) by 7 feet 8 inches (2.34 m). The Westinghouse Electric Company turbine generator can produce 725,000 kilowatts of electricity.
Built between 1967 and 1970, Palisades was approved to operate at full power in 1973.
On July 12, 2006, it was announced that the plant would be sold to Entergy. On April 11, 2007, the plant was sold to Entergy for $380 million. The plant's original licensee was due to expire on March 24, 2011. An application for 20-year extension was filed in 2005 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was granted on January 18, 2007. Therefore, the plant was then scheduled for decommissioning by 2031.
Entergy had made a decision to close the plant in October 2018. A decision by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) influenced the company's decision. Consumers Energy attempted to buy its way out of a power purchase agreement it has with Entergy and the plant. The MPSC did not approve Consumer Energy's full request of $172 million, so Entergy decided to keep the plant open three years longer than planned. On April 20, 2022, just weeks before the facility was scheduled to close, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer requested federal funding to keep the facility open.
Entergy closed the Palisades plant in May 2022 and its sale to Holtec International was completed in June 2022. However, in September 2022, Holtec applied for funds from the Civil Nuclear Credit to reopen the plant. This request was denied in November 2022 In December 2022, Holtec announced that it will reapply for funds from the Civil Nuclear Credit in order to restart Palisades. Other efforts have been made to "repower" the plant. On September 12, 2023, Holtec and Wolverine Power Cooperative announced that they had reached a power purchase agreement to restart the plant once the re-opening is approved. As of January 2024, Holtec has secured $150 million in state funding to restart the plant. The Department of Energy was also reportedly ready to offer a $1.5 billion loan to assist in restarting operations. If operations resume, the plant would be the first nuclear power plant to restart operations in the country.