It’s been over two years since the Palisades Nuclear Plant on the shores of Lake Michigan closed its doors. But decommissioning company and Palisades owner Holtec International hopes to restart it.
“We are ready to make history and we're going to make history," operations manager Paul Rhodes told me. He said he’s been with Palisades for 25 years. I talked to him during a tour of the plant last spring.
Much of the facility’s large equipment lay dormant in expansive open rooms as Holtec’s team worked to get the plant in operational order.
“It's never been done before. So not only do we have people who left that want to come back because of that, they also want to come back because of the culture that we had here.”
A new mission for new times
The plan to reopen Palisades has bipartisan support, and it’s unfolding amid a push to expand nuclear energy across the country.
Advocates say nuclear could boost the economy while cutting emissions. But the U.S. nuclear industry has catching-up to do.
That’s where the ADVANCE Act comes in. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia is behind the legislation. She spoke during a Senate vote on amendments in June.
“Not only is it necessary to continue developing and deploying more nuclear energy reactors from an energy and environmental standpoint, it is also vital to our national security, and it's good for the economy.”
The ADVANCE Act pertains to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the body that regulates all nuclear plants in the US, which will decide whether Palisades can reopen.
Among other things, the Act directs the NRC to add a new element to its mission statement, stating that it will not “unnecessarily limit” the civilian use of radioactive materials, deployment of nuclear energy, or the benefits these two things bring to society.
The NRC declined to comment on the new law before deadline.
Nuclear Reactions
Brendan Kochunas is an assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences.
He’s okay with the ADVANCE Act. He said the new law does not change the NRC’s other commitments like protecting public health and safety.
Kochunas added that the law will help put the U.S. in line with countries that have made leaps in nuclear technology.
“One could argue that China is doing this more quickly because the regulatory agency or body is more efficient.”
Kochunas also points to provisions allowing for an increase in the NRC’s workforce. He said that will allow the NRC to become more efficient while still maintaining safety.
“I think the NRC has been one of those agencies that has seen a lot of attrition and experience loss over the last few decades to retirements, and they are having trouble replacing that workforce.”
Physicist Edwin Lyman said he supports the increased staffing of the NRC, but he said doing so to address the concerns of the private nuclear industry is a step in the wrong direction.
“Introducing this commercial and promotional consideration, that's really harmful and really would undermine the last 50 years of nuclear safety.”
Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety for the advocacy group the Union of Concerned Scientists.
He said the nuclear industry views the regulator as a bureaucratic dinosaur that hinders more than it helps.
Lyman said the new mission statement could be used against the agency.
“My fear is that the regulated community, that is the nuclear industry, will come in and attack essentially every move the NRC tries to make to strengthen safety by asserting that that's going to limit what they can do.”
But enthusiasm for the ADVANCE Act ran high on both sides of the aisle. Only 13 House members voted against it, along with two members of the Senate.
Democratic U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib of the Detroit-area 12th district was the only Michigan member of Congress who did not vote for the ADVANCE Act.
Tlaib explained her decision to vote ‘present’ in an email statement to WMUK.
“I voted present in objection to the ridiculous decision to tie the reauthorization of vital firefighting programs for our communities together with poison pills that undermine nuclear safety and were strongly opposed by leading grassroots environmental organizations like Friends of the Earth and Food and Water Watch," Tlaib wrote.
"I have very strong relationships with the fire chiefs in my district, and explained the situation to them ahead of the vote. They were as surprised as anyone that their critical funding was being tied to completely unrelated legislation to fast-track dangerous nuclear energy.”