Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Monday signed into law a state budget that would conditionally provide $150 million to restart the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert county.
The funding, about half of what plant owner Holtec International says it needs from the state, is contingent on the federal Department of Energy providing a much larger tranche of financial aid; Holtec has said it wants about $1 billion for DOE’s Loan Program Office.
Whitmer included the $150 million in state aid in a press release about her decision to sign the bill. The funding will be available through the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, assuming DOE’s loan comes through.
DOE on Tuesday did not immediately respond to a query about whether the agency had issued Holtec a conditional loan statement: something Holtec said it expected as soon as July. On July 18, a DOE official said the agency was still considering how, and whether, to provide financial assistance for Holtec.
Palisades shut down in May 2022. Holtec bought the plant, to decommission, from Entergy. Palisades’ license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which expires in 2031, does not currently permit the license holder to operate the plant.
Getting operations tacked back on to the NRC license is the biggest regulatory hurdle Holtec, Jupiter, Fla., faces in its nearly unprecedented effort to restart the plant on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Holtec has said it could get Palisades running again in about two-and-a-half years, assuming it gets all the funding it seeks from Michigan and DOE and assuming the company finds a plant operator who will also sign a 20-year power purchase agreement.
