Environmental groups are voicing concerns about plans to build the nation’s first small modular reactors, or SMRs, at the Palisades nuclear power plant in Van Buren County.
Holtec International says it aims to revive Palisades later this year after it was decommissioned in 2022. In five years, the goal is to install the nation’s first SMRs there. Critics warn the reactors would still produce radioactive waste without long-term disposal solutions and pose accident risks.
Michael Keegan with the grassroots group, “Don’t Waste Michigan,” says about 80 companies are competing to market their SMRs, which he says aren’t really small modular reactors.
“A colleague of mine refers to them as small mythical reactors because they don’t exist,” Keegan said. “They’re PowerPoint reactors. It’s hyperbole. And they’re all chasing Department of Energy money. We’re talking billions of dollars.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has formed a panel to oversee the Palisades restart for safety compliance. Keegan says anyone who wants to challenge the project must do so under the Administrative Procedures Act. He’s hoping the opposition will eventually get to take the issue of Palisades to federal court.
The plant is expected to eventually generate 800 megawatts and power 800,000 homes while providing around 600 jobs in Southwest Michigan.
