U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga last week sought an opinion from President Joe Biden’s administration on the restart of Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.
Palisades owner Holtec International is currently seeking federal funds to restart the plant, which closed in May 2022 and is in the midst of decommissioning. Huizenga, R-Zeeland, brought up the efforts during a subcommittee hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, July 13.
During the hearing, Huizenga asked John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, about Palisades and its restart effort. The plant, located in Covert Township, is in Huizenga’s congressional district.
Huizenga said “significant baseload generation” is important and the country needs to reduce dependence on “global bad actors” for energy resources.
“I’m curious, do you believe projects like Palisades and others … help us achieve our goals and reduce CO2 emissions?” Huizenga said. “What’s your view on restarting some of these nuclear power plants?”
In response, Kerry said the administration is “very proactive” on nuclear energy and said nuclear energy is necessary to meet outlined climate goals.
“The Biden Administration is very proactive on the nuclear front,” Kerry said. “We believe that … you can’t really reach the targets that’ve been set without some nuclear.”
The hearing is available to view on YouTube, with Huizenga’s portion beginning at 2:22:00. Huizenga released a statement following the hearing, saying Palisades is “a worthwhile exploration” that needs state and federal support.
“Examining the repowering of Palisades is a worthwhile exploration to address our energy needs,” he wrote.
Holtec is seeking a loan from the Department of Energy to aid in restarting Palisades. The plant went offline in May 2022 after 50 years of operation. Holtec says restarting the plant would return 800 megawatts of baseload generation to Michigan’s energy grid.
Efforts to restart Palisades have already received state support, with $150 million set aside in the recently approved budget to aid the plant.
If the DoE approves the loan, Holtec will still need the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reverse several actions taken to cease operations at the plant — in addition to securing a power purchase agreement and rehiring and retraining staff. Holtec has estimated the process will take about two years.
Source: The Holland Sentinel