A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers organized themselves into a new nuclear caucus and pledged their full support for reopening the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert Township to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (R).
The 15 lawmakers spelled out their support for the plant’s reopening in a letter to the governor. The Governor and the heads of the appropriations committees in the Michigan legislature did not reply to requests for comment this week about whether they would propose state funding to reopen the plant. Holtec International, which is decommissioning the facility, says it needs $300 million from Michigan, plus a federal loan from the Department of Energy, to reopen Palisades.
Holtec in May said it expected to know by June or July whether the state and federal funding would come through.
A Massachusetts state lawmaker is again trying to make the discharge of irradiated water from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power State subject to state approval.
On the 429th page of the state Senate’s 2024 budget proposal, state Sen. Susan Moran (D-Pymouth/Barnstable) again proposed creating a special state commission to study the discharge of radioactive water into state waters. If enacted, the proposal would effectively block discharges into Cape Cod Bay from Pilgrim.
Moran attempted to ban wastewater discharges from the plant using this same tactic in the state’s last legislative session, but then-Gov. Charlie Baker (R) blocked it using the Massachusetts governor’s authority to line-veto parts of the legislature’s budget bill.
Constellation Energy, Baltimore, will buy NRG Energy’s stage in a Texas nuclear power plant for $1.75 billion, the company announced this week in a statement.
Under the deal, Constellation will acquire NRG’s 44% equity stake in the South Texas Project Electric Generating Station in Bay City, Texas. The deal was set to close by Dec. 31. The South Texas Project Unit 1 reactor is licensed to operate until Aug. 8, 2047. Unit 2 is licensed to operate until Dec. 15, 2048.
ExchangeMonitor Publications and Forums will host its 2023 RadWaste Summit June 6-8 in Las Vegas.
The event includes discussion of both government and commercial nuclear-waste programs, with scheduled speakers from the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration. Executives with the commercial nuclear power industry were also scheduled to speak.
