The owners of the shut-down Palisades nuclear power station in the US state of Michigan are hopeful that the federal government will approve approximately $1bn (€933m) to complement state funds from Michigan to restart the single-unit facility.
Palisades, on the shore of Lake Michigan in Covert Township, began commercial operation in 1971. The 805-MW pressurised water reactor unit was shut down in May 2022 and bought just weeks later by Holtec, a supplier of equipment to the energy industry.
Holtec initially planned to repurpose the 174-hectare site but the Biden administration’s $6bn of aid for upgrading nuclear facilities in the US led the company to reconsider its plans. Nuclear energy is crucial to president Joe Biden’s goal of an economy with net zero carbon emissions by 2050.