Officials announced on Wednesday that the federal government would grant a$ 1.5 billion loan to restart a nuclear power plant in southwest Michigan.
In 2022, Holtec International plans to destroy the 800-megawatt Palisades flower. However, nowadays, with the help of the state of Michigan and the Biden administration, the focus is on restarting it by the end of 2025.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said it would be the first nuclear power plant to become reopened in the U. S. It also faces barriers, including checks, assessment and the gift of the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, known as the NRC.
” Nuclear energy is our single largest source of carbon- free light, straight supporting 100, 000 work across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly”, said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a previous Michigan government.
The Palisades flower is along Lake Michigan, a two- hours drive from Chicago. A Michigan power, CMS Energy, owned it from 1971 until the flower was sold to Louisiana- based power Entergy in 2007. It was discontinued in 2022.
Holtec claimed to have received long-term commitments from two electronic cooperatives to purchase electricity from the plant.
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” The repowering of Palisades will recover healthy, around- the- time technology to hundreds of thousands of households, businesses and manufacturers”, said Kris Singh, Holtec president and chief executive.
Critics, but, have emerged. A partnership at the NRC has requested a hearing on whether to restart what it mocks as a “zombie furnace.”
The finalization of the economic agreement with the government will get four to five months, according to Holtec official Patrick O’Brien.
” It is a product we have to pay back”, he said.
Nuclear power is in the limelight. Thirty- four nations, including the United States, next month pledged to use it to minimize reliance on fossil fuels. The Diablo Canyon flower may continue to operate in California until 2030, according to officials in December, to prevent blackouts as the condition transitions to renewable energy sources. Owner of Pacific Gas &, Electric claimed that federal funding helped it pay off a express product.
” There is more excitement toward atomic power—in Congress, in the industry and even internationally”, said Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California who has inspected nuclear plants around the world.
But restarting a flower, he said, is not easy.
According to Meshkati,” It places the onus and stress on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Holtec to double down on their efforts to make certain this flower is secure enough and all safety measures are in place.”
By Ed White
