Palisades critics: Nuclear restart a 'nightmare,' NRC and Holtec defend approval process

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As plans for a first-of-its-kind restart of a decommissioned U.S. nuclear reactor push forward at the Palisades in West Michigan, operator Holtec International and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are being met with criticism and claims of “collusion” from anti-nuclear organizations and activists.

Following last week’s announcement from the NRC regarding its signoff on licensing actions that will allow Holtec to begin loading fuel into its Palisades reactor immediately upon authorized completion of specific reviews, scheduled inspections, and licensing procedures, opponents filed an ‘emergency enforcement petition’ on Tuesday, urging federal regulators to hit the brakes.

“There are tremendous safety risks at Palisades,” said Kevin Kamps, a longtime anti-nuclear activist from Kalamazoo and radioactive waste specialist with Beyond Nuclear. “These (risks) all went away on May 20th, 2022 with the supposedly ‘permanent’ shutdown by the previous owner, Entergy. But incredibly enough, this nuclear nightmare is back.”

The groups behind the official complaint against the NRC for so-called “collusion,” include Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Three Mile Island Alert and Nuclear Energy Information Service (complainants).

“Behind the scenes they (NRC) are in cahoots with Holtec, allowing them to do these proposed repairs. Once they’re done, is the agency going to say, oh no, that’s not good enough? They’re not going to do that,” Kamps said. “There’s decades of experience with this kind of behavior.”

The NRC tells News Channel 3 that they will review this complaint and are committed to a transparent reviewal process.

The petition will go through the NRC’s established process for reviewing such petitions. The NRC is currently reviewing a license amendment request from Holtec for the NRC to review their proposed repair methodology for the steam generators. The plant is currently performing steam generator repair activities with NRC specialist inspectors observing those repairs real-time. If the license amendment request for the approval of the steam generator repair methodology is not approved by the NRC, Holtec will have to take certain actions to come into compliance with their license. The whole process is transparent to the public through inspection reports and our engagement with members of the public and reporters who have questions about the NRC’s licensing and inspection activities. The next steps in the process involve the NRC’s review of three pending license amendment requests and ongoing Holtec and NRC inspections to verify the readiness of plant equipment, safety systems and components to meet the NRC’s requirements for operating reactors.

Holtec also emphasized the thorough process of approval by the NRC: “In order for Palisades to come back online, we have to meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal government’s highest safety standards, and they operate independently,” said Nick Culp with Holtec-Palisades. “We know that we have to do our work, it has to be done and it has to be quality and meet all federal standards before we can go back online. There’s no shortcut around that, that’s just part of the regulatory process, whether you’re going through a restart or if you’re just in regular operation, that the process is very clearly laid out. And the standards are set very high.”

Kamps told News Channel 3 the current focus of controversy for opponents is the plant’s steam generator tubes, which are thin, metal pipes that transfer heat within a nuclear reactor. “If you blow a single tube, you’re going to have a release of hazardous radioactivity into the environment at Palisades,” he said. “That’s bad enough. If you blow a large number of tubes, a large enough number of tubes, you can have a full-blown reactor core meltdown.”

According to Holtec’s spokesperson, the reactor consists of thousands of these tubes, some of which they confirm were found to be degraded during inspections, however, the spokesperson asserts that a reliable solution is underway.

“This was a repair that we discovered in the course of scheduled inspection work last year, that was important to do to bring the plant back into service,” said Culp. “We actually scheduled these repairs early in the process because we knew, when you go through discovery, sometimes you have to add additional work scope to the project. So we did that with the foresight of knowing we might need to go in and do some repairs in the future.”

Culp said that Holtec is performing a process called ‘sleeving,’ which is meant to reinforce the tubes by inserting a sleeve within the existing metal. “It’s a proven industry repair method. This has been done elsewhere,” said Culp. “We’re working with a specialized vendor that is expert in this particular repair method, and it’s going very well so far at the site.”

And, Holtec asserts, the NRC has been involved throughout the process. “I think, it’s just really a misunderstanding of how this process works,” said Culp about the petition.

When asked whether the emergency petition filed by Beyond Nuclear could delay Holtec’s Palisades restart timeline, the spokesperson said that as far as they are concerned it should not, but that the approval process is up to the NRC, but that they are doing everything they can to finish their work to gain the approval to officially restart service. “Right now we feel very confident,” said Culp.

“We’re currently licensed to operate through 2031 and we’ve publicly indicated and told the NRC that next year, our intention is to file for subsequent license renewal, which would add at least 20 years life onto the existing license,” Culp said.

Meanwhile, Culp said that with the steam generator repairs, crews are performing turbine maintenance, planning secondary-side cleaning of the generators, and increasing staff.

“We’re now up to about 600 full-time nuclear professionals at the site, which is almost tripling what we had on site when we shut down. That’s supplemented by more than 1,000 contractors,” said Culp. “So right now, if you’re near Blue Star Highway, you see a lot of vehicle traffic. And that’s great news for our local economy.”

Holtec is authorized to “repower” Palisades as early as Aug. 25, but only once inspections are completed by the NRC.

“We are looking forward to coming back on by fourth quarter this year, but safety and reliability will always come first,” said Culp. “We’re not gonna be saying we’re ready to start until we’re there and our work’s done, and certainly the federal government and others are not going allow that to happen until our work’s complete.”

Here is a page on the NRC’s website dedicated to providing information related to the potential Palisades restart with a list of licensing actions, inspection reports and much more.

Those who are interested in this topic can subscribe to a service which notifies them when new documents become available in the NRC’s public documents system.