$1.52B loan guarantee issued in effort to restart Michigan nuclear power plant

March 27 (UPI) -- The Energy Department Wednesday announced a $1.52 billion loan guarantee for Holtec Palisades to finance restoration and restart of the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan.

The plant's reopening is subject to Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval.

"Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a statement. "President Biden's Investing in America agenda is supporting and expanding this vibrant clean energy workforce here in Michigan with significant funding for the Holtec Palisades nuclear power plant."

According to the Energy Department, the project will create 600 good-paying, high-quality jobs.

The plant stopped operating in May 2022.

"Once open, Palisades will be the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in American history, driving $363 million of regional economic impact and helping Michigan lead the future of clean energy," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. "I am so grateful to my bipartisan partners in the Michigan Legislature, the Biden-Harris administration, Holtec, and labor for coming together to get this done."

During the plant's projected additional operation once back online, the Energy Department said the project will "avoid 4.47 million tons of CO2 emissions per year for a total of 111 million tons of CO2 emissions during the projected 25 years of operations-an amount roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of removing more than 970,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road."

Whitmer added that the plant will power 800,000 homes.

Holtec Palisades already has signed power purchase agreements for the rejuvenated plant's power output with rural electric co-ops Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

This is the first project with a conditional commitment under the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act.

In 2007 the NRC authorized the Palisades plant in Covert near Lake Michigan for 20 more years operation.

Nuclear waste is stored at the plant near Lake Michigan, prompting safety concerns from environmental groups. A coalition of local, state and national organizations had petitioned to stop the NRC from allowing Palisades to operate for 20 more years due to those safety concerns.