Holtec retrieves tipped Palisades fuel assembly as restart safety concerns persist

Holtec International said on October 21 that workers had recovered a tipped fuel assembly from the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan, clearing an obstacle to further fuel loading in its effort to restart the reactor. The company has not given a date for resuming power generation.

The assembly tipped about 30 degrees after workers placed it in the reactor cavity during fuel loading in late August, Michigan Public reported. Holtec told regulators its usual machine for moving fuel assemblies could not retrieve it, so the company devised a recovery method using a purpose-built canister.

How workers recovered the Palisades fuel assembly

Holtec called the recovery safe and error-free. Chief Nuclear Officer Fadi Diya said the team approached it with a commitment to safety and technical rigor. The company said workers could now resume fuel loading; its announcement did not establish that loading had already resumed.

Safety concerns and the restart timetable

The company and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are still investigating why the assembly tipped, Michigan Public reported. The National reported that nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen, an adviser to the advocacy group Don't Waste Michigan, had taken his concerns about the restart to Democratic Senator Edward Markey. Gundersen told The National that he had escalated those concerns; in a letter to Markey, he said the NRC had ignored or rebuffed his safety concerns for three years.

The National also reported an NRC inspection finding that Palisades maintained a safety-conscious work environment overall, while a ‘chilled work environment’ existed in its supply-chain and quality-assurance departments. The regulator said employees in those departments were hesitant to raise safety concerns through all available channels for fear of retaliation.

Palisades stopped operating in 2022 and was slated for decommissioning before Holtec pursued a restart that would make it the first decommissioned US nuclear plant to resume power operations, Michigan Public reported. Repairs and maintenance have pushed the timetable back by a year, including work on about 1,400 cracked steam-generator tubes.

Holtec said operations would resume once required work was complete and applicable federal requirements and industry standards were met. It has given no restart date, although its contract includes a commitment to sell power by March 1, 2027, according to Michigan Public.