Michigan nuclear plant shows the challenges the U.S. will face in safely restarting old reactors

COVERT, Mich. — A nuclear energy plant on the shores of Lake Michigan is aiming to make historical past this fall by turning into the primary reactor within the U.S. to restart operations after shutting right down to be finally dismantled.

The hassle to restart the Palisades plant close to South Haven, which shut down three years in the past, is a precedent-setting occasion that might pave a path for different shuttered reactors to come back again on-line.

However Palisades wants main repairs to restart safely, highlighting the challenges the trade will face in bringing growing old crops again to life.

Palisades started business operations in 1971 in the course of the early wave of reactor building within the U.S. The plant completely ceased operations in 2022, one among a dozen reactors to shut in recent times as nuclear power has struggled to compete towards cheaper pure gasoline and renewables.

The proprietor of the plant, Holtec Worldwide, has mentioned it hopes to restart Palisades this fall, topic to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Fee. The restart challenge is backed by a $1.5 billion mortgage assure from the Division of Vitality, $1.3 billion from the Division of Agriculture, and $300 million in grants from the state of Michigan.

The Vitality Division on Monday authorised the discharge of almost $57 million from the mortgage, an indication that the Trump administration helps the challenge amid the turmoil and uncertainty in Washington over federal funding for initiatives began below the Biden administration.

However Holtec is going through main repairs to Palisades’ growing old steam mills that might delay a schedule the NRC has referred to as demanding. Holtec has disclosed to regulators that its inspections have discovered broken tubes within the plant’s two mills, which have been put in in 1990.

These tubes are essential elements that defend public well being. If a tube ruptures at a nuclear plant, there’s a threat that radioactive materials can be launched into the setting, in keeping with the NRC. Plant house owners are required to show to the NRC that if a tube does fail, any radiological launch past the plant’s perimeter would stay beneath what the regulator describes as its “conservative limits.”

“The NRC is scared to loss of life of steam generator tube ruptures. It is a very actual accident. It isn’t a hypothetical,” mentioned Alan Blind, who served as engineering director at Palisades from 2006 to 2013 below earlier plant proprietor Entergy.  Blind, who’s now retired, mentioned he helps nuclear energy however is anxious in regards to the situation of the Palisades plant primarily based on a long time of expertise within the trade. 

Palisades is presently in a protected situation, NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell mentioned, because the steam mills usually are not in use as a result of the plant is shut down and defueled.

Holtec President Kelly Trice instructed CNBC the corporate has finished a “full characterization” of the mills and “they’re absolutely repairable.” The corporate has requested the NRC to finish its overview of the restore plan by Aug. 15, however federal regulators are skeptical of the corporate’s timetable.

NRC Department Chief Steve Bloom warned Holtec throughout a Jan. 14 public assembly that the work required to overview the plan will “add to a schedule that’s already very aggressive.” Eric Reichelt, a senior supplies engineer on the NRC, referred to as the schedule “very demanding,” telling Holtec on the assembly that only some persons are out there on the regulatory physique to do the required overview work.

In nuclear crops resembling Palisades, water heated by the reactor passes by means of tubes within the mills, inflicting water outdoors the tubes to boil into steam that drives the generators to supply electrical energy for the grid.

The radioactive water that circulates by means of the reactor and the clear water that boils within the mills don’t come into contact with one another. If a tube ruptures, nonetheless, the contaminated water mixes with the clear water and radioactive materials might be launched into the setting by means of valves that discharge steam, in keeping with the NRC.

Holtec’s inspections discovered greater than 1,400 indications of corrosion cracking throughout greater than 1,000 steam generator tubes at Palisades, in keeping with an organization submitting with the NRC in October 2024. The tubes haven’t failed, Holtec CEO Krishna Singh instructed CNBC in February. A number of had corrosion cracking with greater than 70% penetration, in keeping with the submitting.

As a result of plant’s age, Palisades steam generator tubes are made from an alloy that the trade has since realized is liable to corrosion cracking, in keeping with NRC. Holtec mentioned it’s utilizing a method to restore the tubes referred to as “sleeving” during which a better high quality alloy is inserted and expanded to seal the harm.

“The strategies of restore which we’re utilizing, which is known as sleeving, has been finished in about 10 crops internationally and in some crops is completed each outage, so this isn’t new, unique know-how,” Trice mentioned. “It’s a widespread restore method, and we anticipate it to be finished on time and on schedule.”

Holtec’s restore plan is scheduled to begin this summer season following inspection and testing, spokesperson Nick Culp instructed CNBC. Holtec can go forward with the tube repairs on its schedule, however the firm does so at its personal threat because the NRC will determine whether or not the repairs meet necessities in the long run, Burnell mentioned.

However in the course of the Jan. 14 assembly, NRC department chief Bloom pushed again on Holtec’s statements that the corporate’s restore plan is following trade precedent.

“Despite the fact that you are quote, unquote, following a precedent, it isn’t precisely, as a result of it is a totally different materials, totally different kind of sleeving,” Bloom mentioned on the January assembly. The sleeve design that Holtec is proposing for the repairs has not been put in in steam mills earlier than, although it has been utilized in different warmth exchangers at nuclear crops, in keeping with an organization submitting.

The sleeves are made from an alloy that has not proven indicators of cracking in U.S. or worldwide crops, in keeping with the submitting. The part has a service lifetime of not more than 10 years, the submitting mentioned. Culp mentioned testing and evaluation of the sleeves “assist the expectation of longer-term efficiency.”

The problems with the tubes elevate the query of whether or not the growing old steam mills ought to be changed, an costly challenge that Palisades’ earlier house owners knew can be vital in some unspecified time in the future however by no means tackled.

Shoppers Vitality, for instance, bought the Palisades to Entergy in 2007 for $380 million partly resulting from “vital capital expenditures which can be required for the plant,” together with the alternative of the steam mills, in keeping with a submitting with the Michigan Public Service Fee.

Shoppers Vitality assumed that the mills wanted to get replaced in 2016, in keeping with the submitting. Entergy, nonetheless, didn’t exchange them after buying Palisades. The utility discovered that buying new mills would make the plant economically unfeasible, mentioned Blind, who was engineering director at Palisades throughout that point.

“They felt that with their experience that they may lengthen the remaining life, which is precisely what they did up till they shut it down,” Blind mentioned.

Entergy closed Palisades in Could 2022 and bought the plant to Holtec to take over its dismantling. However Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a letter to the Division of Vitality pushed to maintain Palisades open, citing the roles supported by the plant and the necessity for dependable, carbon-free energy. Backed by the governor’s workplace, Holtec first utilized for federal assist to restart Palisades two months after it closed.

A steam generator tube rupture on the Indian Level nuclear plant — positioned 24 miles north of New York Metropolis in Westchester County, New York — demonstrates the potential dangers such incidents pose to public well being and the funds of utility firms.

On Feb. 15, 2000, operators at Indian Level Unit 2 obtained a notification {that a} steam generator tube had failed, in keeping with the NRC’s report on the incident. Consolidated Edison issued an alert and shut the plant down, the regulator mentioned. It could keep closed for 11 months whereas the reason for the rupture was investigated and the situation of the 4 steam mills was analyzed.

The rupture resulted in “a minor radiological launch to the setting that was properly inside regulatory limits,” in keeping with an NRC activity power report. The incident “didn’t impression the general public well being and security,” in keeping with the report. Nonetheless, the NRC slapped Con Edison with a pink quotation, essentially the most critical violation, after figuring out the leak was of “excessive security significance.”

The leak was contained and there was no evacuation of neighboring communities, however authorities in Westchester County on the time have been deeply nervous in regards to the threat to the general public, mentioned Blind, who was Con Edison’s vp of nuclear energy at Indian Level in the course of the incident.

“We had contained the entire radioactive water, however they have been so scared that they have been very near closing all the colleges,” mentioned Blind. “They weren’t going to let the kids come to highschool within the morning till they noticed how this all performed out. It is all very critical.”

The leak proved pricey for Con Edison. The utility changed the 4 steam mills at an estimated value of as much as $150 million, in keeping with firm filings from the time. The invoice would have been larger had Con Edison not had alternative steam mills already available. The utility had owned alternative mills since 1988 however had not put in them. Con Edison additionally paid greater than $130 million in costs related to the 11-month outage on the plant.

Blind mentioned Con Edison determined to interchange the steam mills at Indian Level to scale back the danger that there can be one other tube rupture when the plant restarted.

“We have been a publicly traded firm,” Blind mentioned. “And it got here down from the board, it mentioned we will not dwell with this uncertainty.”

The utility bought Indian Level Items 1 and a couple of to Entergy for $502 million in 2001 below a deal that additionally included gasoline turbine property. The sale was into account earlier than the tube rupture. Con Edison estimated an after-tax lack of $170 million from the Indian Level sale, in keeping with filings from the time.

Blind mentioned the stakes of the deliberate Palisades restart are excessive for your entire nuclear trade. Demand for nuclear energy is rising once more within the U.S. as states, utilities and the tech sector search extra dependable, carbon-free energy. The renewed curiosity has been known as a “nuclear renaissance” after years of reactor shutdowns within the U.S.

Constellation Vitality, for instance, is planning to restart its Three Mile Island plant in 2028 topic to NRC approval. Constellation has mentioned the steam mills on the plant have undergone inspection and upkeep and are in good situation. NextEra Vitality introduced in July 2024 that it’s evaluating whether or not restarting its Duane Arnold plant in Iowa is possible.

An incident at Palisades “can be devastating for your entire trade,” Blind mentioned. “There can be requires rethinking this renaissance thought,” he mentioned.

Holtec’s Culp mentioned the sleeves used to restore the steam mills at Palisades can be constantly monitored, inspected and topic to regulatory oversight whereas they’re in service. The plant employs a number of layers of protection “to guard our workforce, group, and setting,” he mentioned.

NRC inspectors will observe Holtec’s restore actions as they’re carried out and can make sure the steam mills meet all the necessities for protected operation, Burnell mentioned. “This consists of ensuring that the general public and the setting are protected against radiological issues,” the NRC spokesman mentioned.