Newly released documents appear to indicate Holtec International bought the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant with no intention of decommissioning it, that they plan to install modular nuclear units there, and their projected cost for restarting Palisades is more than $2 billion dollars… much larger than originally thought. That’s according to Kevin Kamps, spokesman for the anti-nuclear energy group Beyond Nuclear.
Kamps obtained Holtec’s July 2022 filing with the U.S. government through a Freedom of Information Act request and he says it shows Holtec bought the plant with no intention of decommissioning the now-inactive, 52-year old nuclear power plant.
“Holtec has asked for 800 million more than we ever knew about. We’ve been using the figure of 1. 2 billion for this Department of Energy civil nuclear credit program funding request by Holtec. The actual amount, uh, to quote Holtec is roughly 2 billion dollars.”
Pat O’Brien is the Director of Government Affairs and Communications at Holtec and says while he doesn’t have exact figures, there will be a lot of money spent.
“It’s going to be intensive to bring the unit back online, obviously, because you have to go through and ensure that, you know, all your safety systems are, are in the best shape, all the systems to run the reactor. So there’s obviously the costs associated with that.”
As far as an overall bait and switch, buying the plant for the sole purpose of repowering, O’Brien says that’s not the case.
“The plant continues on a path to decommissioning. Subsequently we have been trying to work to repower that facility.”
In July 2022, Holtec filed an application with the Department of Energy, laying out its plan to defer decommissioning work “as long as (they) can” to avoid unrecoverable costs. Kamps says deferring maintenance work on a nuclear plant is extremely dangerous.
“They’re giving a little bit of lip service anyway, to the steam generator replacement that needs to happen, has needed to happen for more than 20 years. They’re going to do it in house and they’re going to make that 500 million. But at least they acknowledge the steam generators are problematic. It’s a pathway to meltdown.”
Kamps says the next deadline is coming in November as part of the relicensing process. He says his group will continue to fight the Palisades project “at every twist and turn.” O’Brien says the tide of public sentiment is turning toward nuclear energy and they look forward to continuing the project.
