Michigan nuclear plant shows challenges US safely restart 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 trouble 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 business will face in bringing growing older vegetation again to life.

Palisades started business operations in 1971 through the early wave of reactor development within the U.S. The plant completely ceased operations in 2022, one in all a dozen reactors to shut in recent times as nuclear vitality has struggled to compete in opposition to cheaper pure fuel and renewables.

The proprietor of the plant, Holtec Worldwide, has stated it hopes to restart Palisades this fall, topic to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Fee. The restart undertaking 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 authorized the discharge of practically $57 million from the mortgage, an indication that the Trump administration helps the undertaking amid the turmoil and uncertainty in Washington over federal funding for tasks began below the Biden administration.

However Holtec is going through main repairs to Palisades’ growing older 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 had 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 danger that radioactive materials can be launched into the atmosphere, based on the NRC. Plant homeowners 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 is not a hypothetical,” stated Alan Blind, who served as engineering director at Palisades from 2006 to 2013 below earlier plant proprietor Entergy.  Blind, who’s now retired, stated he helps nuclear energy however is anxious concerning the situation of the Palisades plant based mostly on many years of expertise within the business. 

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

Holtec President Kelly Trice instructed CNBC the corporate has completed 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 individuals are out there on the regulatory physique to do the required overview work.

In nuclear vegetation reminiscent of Palisades, water heated by the reactor passes via 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 via the reactor and the clear water that boils within the mills don’t come into contact with one another. If a tube ruptures, nevertheless, the contaminated water mixes with the clear water and radioactive materials could possibly be launched into the atmosphere via valves that discharge steam, based on the NRC.

Holtec’s inspections discovered greater than 1,400 indications of corrosion cracking throughout greater than 1,000 steam generator tubes at Palisades, based on 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, based on the submitting.

As a result of plant’s age, Palisades steam generator tubes are fabricated from an alloy that the business has since discovered is susceptible to corrosion cracking, based on NRC. Holtec stated it’s utilizing a method to restore the tubes referred to as “sleeving” wherein a better high quality alloy is inserted and expanded to seal the harm.

“The strategies of restore which we’re utilizing, which is named sleeving, has been completed in about 10 vegetation internationally and in some vegetation is finished each outage, so this isn’t new, unique know-how,” Trice stated. “It’s a frequent restore approach, and we anticipate it to be completed 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 danger because the NRC will determine whether or not the repairs meet necessities in the long run, Burnell stated.

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

“Despite the fact that you are quote, unquote, following a precedent, it is not precisely, as a result of it is a totally different materials, totally different kind of sleeving,” Bloom stated 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 vegetation, based on an organization submitting.

The sleeves are fabricated from an alloy that has not proven indicators of cracking in U.S. or worldwide vegetation, based on the submitting. The element has a service lifetime of not more than 10 years, the submitting stated. Culp stated testing and evaluation of the sleeves “help the expectation of longer-term efficiency.”

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

Shoppers Vitality, for instance, offered the Palisades to Entergy in 2007 for $380 million partly on account of “vital capital expenditures which are required for the plant,” together with the alternative of the steam mills, based on a submitting with the Michigan Public Service Fee.

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

“They felt that with their experience that they might delay the remaining life, which is strictly what they did up till they shut it down,” Blind stated.

Entergy closed Palisades in Could 2022 and offered 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 help to restart Palisades two months after it closed.

A steam generator tube rupture on the Indian Level nuclear plant — situated 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 corporations.

On Feb. 15, 2000, operators at Indian Level Unit 2 obtained a notification {that a} steam generator tube had failed, based on the NRC’s report on the incident. Consolidated Edison issued an alert and shut the plant down, the regulator stated. It will 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 atmosphere that was effectively inside regulatory limits,” based on an NRC job power report. The incident “didn’t impression the general public well being and security,” based on the report. Nonetheless, the NRC slapped Con Edison with a crimson quotation, essentially the most severe 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 had been deeply frightened concerning the danger to the general public, stated Blind, who was Con Edison’s vp of nuclear energy at Indian Level through the incident.

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

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

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

“We had been a publicly traded firm,” Blind stated. “And it got here down from the board, it stated we won’t reside with this uncertainty.”

The utility offered Indian Level Models 1 and a couple of to Entergy for $502 million in 2001 below a deal that additionally included fuel turbine property. The sale was into consideration earlier than the tube rupture. Con Edison estimated an after-tax lack of $170 million from the Indian Level sale, based on filings from the time.

Blind stated the stakes of the deliberate Palisades restart are excessive for the complete nuclear business. 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 stated 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 the complete business,” Blind stated. “There can be requires rethinking this renaissance concept,” he stated.

Holtec’s Culp stated 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, neighborhood, and atmosphere,” he stated.

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