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 all the way 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 return again on-line.

However Palisades wants main repairs to restart safely, highlighting the challenges the trade will face in bringing growing older vegetation again to life.

Palisades started industrial operations in 1971 throughout the early wave of reactor building within the U.S. The plant completely ceased operations in 2022, considered one of a dozen reactors to shut in recent times as nuclear power has struggled to compete towards cheaper pure gasoline 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 venture is backed by a $1.5 billion mortgage assure from the Division of Power, $1.3 billion from the Division of Agriculture, and $300 million in grants from the state of Michigan.

The Power Division on Monday accepted the discharge of almost $57 million from the mortgage, an indication that the Trump administration helps the venture amid the turmoil and uncertainty in Washington over federal funding for tasks began underneath the Biden administration.

However Holtec is going through main repairs to Palisades’ growing older steam turbines that might delay a schedule the NRC has known as demanding. Holtec has disclosed to regulators that its inspections have discovered broken tubes within the plant’s two turbines, which had been put in in 1990.

These tubes are essential parts that shield public well being. If a tube ruptures at a nuclear plant, there’s a danger that radioactive materials shall 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 under what the regulator describes as its “conservative limits.”

“The NRC is scared to demise of steam generator tube ruptures. It is a very actual accident. It isn’t a hypothetical,” stated Alan Blind, who served as engineering director at Palisades from 2006 to 2013 underneath 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 a long time of expertise within the trade. 

Palisades is at the moment in a protected situation, NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell stated, because the steam turbines aren’t in use as a result of the plant is shut down and defueled.

Holtec President Kelly Trice instructed CNBC the corporate has carried out a “full characterization” of the turbines and “they’re totally repairable.” The corporate has requested the NRC to finish its evaluate 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 evaluate the plan will “add to a schedule that’s already very aggressive.” Eric Reichelt, a senior supplies engineer on the NRC, known as the schedule “very demanding,” telling Holtec on the assembly that just a few persons are accessible on the regulatory physique to do the required evaluate work.

In nuclear vegetation reminiscent of Palisades, water heated by the reactor passes by means of tubes within the turbines, inflicting water outdoors the tubes to boil into steam that drives the generators to provide electrical energy for the grid.

The radioactive water that circulates by means of the reactor and the clear water that boils within the turbines 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 by means of 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 manufactured from an alloy that the trade has since realized is vulnerable to corrosion cracking, based on NRC. Holtec stated it’s utilizing a way to restore the tubes known as “sleeving” by which the next high quality alloy is inserted and expanded to seal the harm.

“The strategies of restore which we’re utilizing, which is known as sleeving, has been carried out in about 10 vegetation the world over and in some vegetation is finished each outage, so this isn’t new, unique know-how,” Trice stated. “It’s a widespread restore approach, and we anticipate it to be carried out on time and on schedule.”

Holtec’s restore plan is scheduled to begin this summer time 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 resolve whether or not the repairs meet necessities in the long run, Burnell stated.

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

“Despite the fact that you are quote, unquote, following a precedent, it is not precisely, as a result of it is a completely different materials, completely 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 turbines earlier than, although it has been utilized in different warmth exchangers at nuclear vegetation, based on an organization submitting.

The sleeves are manufactured 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 increase the query of whether or not the growing older steam turbines needs to be changed, an costly venture that Palisades’ earlier homeowners knew could be mandatory sooner or later however by no means tackled.

Shoppers Power, for instance, offered the Palisades to Entergy in 2007 for $380 million partially on account of “important capital expenditures which might be required for the plant,” together with the substitute of the steam turbines, based on a submitting with the Michigan Public Service Fee.

Shoppers Power assumed that the turbines wanted to get replaced in 2016, based on the submitting. Entergy, nevertheless, didn’t substitute them after buying Palisades. The utility discovered that buying new turbines 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 may delay the remaining life, which is precisely what they did up till they shut it down,” Blind stated.

Entergy closed Palisades in Might 2022 and offered the plant to Holtec to take over its dismantling. However Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a letter to the Division of Power 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 — positioned 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 firms.

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 turbines was analyzed.

The rupture resulted in “a minor radiological launch to the atmosphere that was properly inside regulatory limits,” based on an NRC process power report. The incident “didn’t affect the general public well being and security,” based on the report. Nonetheless, the NRC slapped Con Edison with a purple quotation, probably 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 apprehensive concerning the danger to the general public, stated Blind, who was Con Edison’s vice chairman of nuclear energy at Indian Level throughout the incident.

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

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

Blind stated Con Edison determined to switch the steam turbines at Indian Level to cut back the chance that there could 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 pair of to Entergy for $502 million in 2001 underneath a deal that additionally included gasoline turbine property. The sale was into account 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 whole nuclear trade. 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 Power, for instance, is planning to restart its Three Mile Island plant in 2028 topic to NRC approval. Constellation has stated the steam turbines on the plant have undergone inspection and upkeep and are in good situation. NextEra Power introduced in July 2024 that it’s evaluating whether or not restarting its Duane Arnold plant in Iowa is possible.

An incident at Palisades “could be devastating for the whole trade,” Blind stated. “There could be requires rethinking this renaissance concept,” he stated.

Holtec’s Culp stated the sleeves used to restore the steam turbines at Palisades shall 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 carried out and can make sure the steam turbines meet all the necessities for protected operation, Burnell stated. “This contains ensuring that the general public and the atmosphere are protected against radiological considerations,” the NRC spokesman stated.