Holtec International is touting the progress it’s made so far preparing for the reopening of the Palisades nuclear power plant in Van Buren County.
Holtec’s Nick Culp tells us the site in Covert Township has been bustling with hundreds of staff on hand.
“We’ve added more than 260 members back to our Palisades team, bringing our total employment up to about 480 today,” Culp said. “Many of those folks are returning Palisades employees. We’re also leveraging long-time contractors, folks in the skilled trades, and industry suppliers who’ve worked with the plant for decades.”
Culp says for some of the workers, being back on site after shutting the facility down is like a homecoming. Holtec has been recruiting former plant workers, locals, workers from out of state, and college students to come on board. He notes many of the high-paying jobs at Palisades only require certifications that the local community colleges can help students earn.
Culp says some of the staff on site are training, while others are prepping the facility for its restart.
“We are staffing across all departments, across all major disciplines. Right now, project work they’re focused on, we’re doing thorough inspections, testing of systems and equipment. We’re doing a number of maintenance activities, including some work that was deferred in lieu of the plant’s early shutdown. So we’re going back, completing that work to bring the plant back to where it was prior to shutdown.”
Culp says even though decommissioning of Palisades started in 2022, talks about bringing the plant back to life began early on in the process. Decommissioning proceeded with that in mind.
“While that work was taking place, we were very cautious of not doing anything that would have been irreversible to the plant systems and equipment. Everything was laid up in a safe and stable condition, and now we’re going back through to make sure that those systems and equipment are ready to restart, and where we find things that need upgrades and repairs, we’re doing those as we speak.”
Culp says the nearly 500 employees on site now are being paid with funds Holtec obtained via the state of Michigan and the federal government. However, there are already power purchasing agreements in place for once the plant is back in operation, so it will have revenue sources of its own at that time.
The goal is to fire up the original reactor and be back on the grid by the end of next year. Holtec is also planning to construct its first two U.S.-based small modular reactors at Palisades a few years after the main reactor is back online. Those will further increase the output of Palisades and possibly lead to even more hires.
