(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/30/2024) (Covert Township) - State and federal government representatives were at the site of the former Palisades Nuclear Plant Monday to announce a $1.52 billion Department of Energy (DOE) loan and a $1.3 billion federal grant to accomplish the historic task of restarting the first shuttered nuclear facility.

Holtec International President Kelly Trice said they expect the nuclear power plant along the Lake Michigan shoreline would be able to be turned on by late October 2025 and the company was still in the thick of inspections and work to get everything set to meet that deadline.

"This plan is on time and this plan is under budget," Trice said.

He said they are in the process of dismantling the entire plant, reactor, generators and refurbishing the transformers.

Trice said the $300 million in grants from Michigan paid for the future nuclear operators' training, the needed accreditations and the nuclear fuel.

The multi-decade power purchase agreement from Wolverine and Hoosier were also instrumental in getting the financing Holtec was able to use to get the plant to the point where it would be restarted.

"Most power agreements in this country are three to five years and you can't finance this kind of deal with that short period of time," Trice said.

The fixed price would let the $1.5 billion DOE loan be paid off in 18 to 20 years.

Trice said there were about 500 people working at the plant currently and about 100 of those were previous employees who worked at the power plant before it was shut down in May 2022. There were another 150 who were new to the job.

The plant was expected to have 600 workers making an average salary of nearly $118,000 and produce 800 megawatts of energy, which was before Holtec was expected to add two small modular reactors to the campus between 2030 and 2031. 

Trice said there were 26 people who just graduated getting their nuclear operators licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"Which is the fastest on record," he said.

Palisades Training Manager Mike Bailey said the entire project wouldn't have been possible without Rep. Joey Andrews (D-St. Joseph).

The campus was visited by White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk and Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small. The federal administrators were also part of the event that addressed the crowd of about 800 gathered Monday.

Many of the presenters thanked the Biden-Harris Administration and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who didn't attend the event, but put out a release.

"Reopening Palisades will keep energy costs low, shore up domestic energy production, and secure Michigan's competitiveness for future economic development," Whitmer said.

Holtec International CEO Kris Singh said the deployment of the small nuclear reactors would also be a first and that the state would be home to the nuclear renaissance because of the deployment.

"With our industry-leading partners, we are pioneering a new era of nuclear energy that is more adaptable, efficient, and scalable to meet the energy demands of the future," Singh said.

There have been several attempts by other companies to deploy mobile reactors throughout the United States, but they have not been successful. Reuters reported the small reactor project by NuScale was abandoned after it failed to hit financial goals. 

"From the explosive growth of AI and data storage to the rapid expansion of electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing, Michigan, as the soon-to-be home of the world's first SMRs will be at the forefront of our nation's clean energy transition," Singh said.

A Holtec spokesperson said they are confident that the small modular reactor technology would be able to be delivered by the 2030 timeframe and that it would be vital to meeting future energy needs.

Whitmer and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visited Palisades in March when the loan was first announced.

Granholm, who also did not attend the event, said in a release that nuclear power would be the backbone of getting the U.S. carbon-free.

"Nuclear power is America's largest source of carbon-free electricity, supporting hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the country and will play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis and protecting public health and the environment from its impacts," she said.