The unprecedented proposal to bring a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant back online reached a new level Wednesday as a panel of federal administrative judges heard arguments over the regulatory process for the proposal.
The Palisades nuclear plant, which sits on the Lake Michigan shore near South Haven, stopped operations in 2022. Its owner, Holtec International, originally took control of the plant with plans to oversee its decommissioning. But Holtec reversed course and is now trying to make Palisades the first nuclear plant in the history of the U.S. to return to operations after being decommissioned.
The federal operating license for the plant was modified to allow the decommissioning to move forward, and now Holtec has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to approve amendments to that same license in order to resume operations.
But organizations that oppose the restart proposal say that’s not the way it should work.
“There isn’t an off ramp to back up, restart, and start the plant up again, anew,” argued attorney Terry Lodge, who represented a group of organizations petitioning against the restart proposals.
The meeting Wednesday was before a panel of three administrative judges at the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to determine if the regulatory objections deserve a formal hearing and decision.
Representatives for Holtec argued the petitions should be thrown out, partly because they said the groups who brought the petitions lack standing in the process, and because they said the process for seeking license amendments, instead of pursuing a new license, was already blessed by staff at the NRC.
“Palisades does have an operating license,” argued attorney Stan Blanton, who represented Holtec in Wednesday’s meeting. “That license was renewed in 2007 and remains in effect today.”
Holtec has asked the NRC to complete its regulatory review of its amendment requests by the end of this summer. The company has said it plans to resume power operations at Palisades by the end of this year.
