en.Wedoany.com Reported - Holtec International announced that the Palisades nuclear plant restart project has recently completed its final major engineering milestones, with on-site work transitioning from large-scale construction to maintenance, testing, and operational readiness activities ahead of startup. Although over 5,000 individual tasks remain, this shift marks a key milestone for the historic restart project.
Palisades is an 800 MWe single-unit pressurized water reactor, originally licensed to operate until March 2031. The unit was shut down in May 2022, with fuel removed the following month, and the license was transferred from operator Entergy Nuclear Operations to Holtec Decommissioning International and Holtec Palisades for decommissioning. In late 2023, Holtec began seeking regulatory approval to resume plant operation for the remaining license term.
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) finalized a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to provide financial support for the restart. In August 2025, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) restored the site's license status from "decommissioning" to "operating status," legally allowing the plant to receive fuel. New fuel assemblies subsequently arrived on site and were prepared for loading into the core. Holtec notified the NRC in 2024 of its plan to apply for a second (or subsequent) license renewal for the plant, which would extend operations by 20 years to 2051.
Holtec stated that the final achievements of the "engineering phase" of the restart include placing the turbine-generator set on turning gear after extensive inspection, maintenance, testing, and refurbishment; another major accomplishment was the installation and testing of a new advanced fuel handling machine, completing the upgraded fuel handling system. These items represent the culmination of a series of major efforts across the plant, encompassing reactor pressure vessel inspection and head penetration replacement, primary system chemical decontamination and passivation, steam generator tube refurbishment and secondary side cleaning, fuel receipt and inspection, operator training and recertification, and numerous equipment upgrades and modernization initiatives.
Unit Director Steven Soler and Site Vice President Michael Schultheis stated that these achievements reflect the volume of work completed across the plant, with the team now focused on safely executing the remaining testing, verification, and operational readiness activities required before startup. Plant managers, supervisors, and foremen have shifted their attention to the remaining work through the Operations Command Center (OCC) and dedicated coordination teams, managing tasks around the clock.
In recent months, the site has hosted visits from senior NRC leadership, including Commissioners Douglas Weaver and Bradley Crowell, as well as senior staff from the agency's Office of the Executive Director for Operations and the Office of the Chief Nuclear Reactor Inspector. Holtec Chairman and CEO Dr. Kris Singh expressed gratitude for the support from federal, state, and community partners, stating that the Palisades restart will stand as a lasting testament to government and private sector collaboration in achieving national goals.
To expand site capacity into the 2030s, Holtec International plans to deploy advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) adjacent to the existing reactor, constructing two Holtec SMR-300 pressurized water reactor units, each adding 300 MWe. The dual-unit SMR will inject an additional 600 MWe, nearly doubling the total capacity of the Palisades site to over 1,400 MWe. Geotechnical site layout work is already underway, and Holtec International and the NRC have initiated licensing and preparation activities for units designated "Pioneer 1" and "Pioneer 2," with a target of grid connection by 2030.
