A retired Michigan reactor has begun receiving fresh nuclear fuel, putting it on track to become the first decommissioned US plant ever brought back into commercial service. Crews at the Palisades station started loading fuel assemblies into the reactor vessel this week, a decisive step toward restarting electricity production after a shutdown that lasted more than three years.
The Palisades facility, located along Lake Michigan near South Haven, shut down in 2022 when its previous owner concluded that continued operation made no economic sense. Holtec International acquired the site with plans to dismantle it. Those intentions changed dramatically as state and federal policymakers pushed to preserve carbon-free power sources.
Holtec secured a $1.52 billion loan from the US Department of Energy in 2024 to support the restart effort. The company has spent months replacing equipment, retraining operators, and navigating a regulatory process with no modern precedent. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has never approved reactivation of a plant that had already entered decommissioning.
The reloading operation represents the latest step in a roughly two-year timeline Holtec outlined for bringing Palisades back online. The company has indicated the plant could generate 800 megawatts of electricity once operating at full capacity, enough to power approximately 800,000 homes.
Utility partners including Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy have already signed agreements to purchase the plant’s output. Meanwhile, the restart effort has drawn national attention as other shuttered reactors, including Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania, pursue similar revival plans with backing from technology companies seeking reliable clean energy for data centers.
A Holtec spokesperson confirmed fuel loading would take several days to complete, followed by a series of safety inspections and operational tests before grid connection. The company targets commercial operation before the end of 2026, though federal regulators must still issue final approvals at multiple checkpoints along the way.
