Holtec International has passed another milestone in its effort to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant in Van Buren County.
Holtec’s Nick Culp tells us Palisades has successfully completed passivation of its primary system, which involves returning the system to its normal operating temperature and pressure, something that hasn’t been achieved there since 2022. He says a great deal of work has gone into reaching that goal, including the addition of a protective coating to the entire system and a deep chemical cleaning.
Culp says this brings Palisades one step deeper into the final stretch of the restart.
“The restart is very much, I would say, on the near horizon,” Culp said. “However, as we’ve said from the beginning, this is about making sure that the work that we need to get done is done correctly. There’s no easy path to doing that. There’s no quick workarounds for doing it.”
Culp says with passivation complete, the system will now be cooled and prepared for additional testing, equipment upgrades, and preparations for fuel loading. It will be the first time fuel has been in the reactor since the 2022 shutdown of Palisades. Culp says there’s still no hard date for the restart.
“As we begin to bring the plant online once fuel is in the reactor, it’ll be a gradual, methodical process to bring it back online. We will be doing inspections or surveillance every step of that process.”
Other activities underway include upgrades to the fuel handling system, switchyard restoration work, and the final closeout of major maintenance projects.
Culp also notes Holtec has started winding down the number of additional contractors on site, with a little more than 1,000 right now. It’s also started deactivating some of the additional parking it set aside for all of those contractors. Palisades still has its full complement of about 630 regular staff on site.
