The historic restart of a nuclear energy plant in Michigan is behind schedule, and now won’t happen until early 2026, according to Holtec International, the company behind the restart.
Holtec purchased the Palisades nuclear plant near South Haven with initial plans to decommission it. The plant stopped operating in 2022.
But with a renewed focus on nuclear energy, the company changed plans, and has been working to restart Palisades for more than a year. If Holtec succeeds, Palisades will be the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to restart after going into decommissioning.
Holtec has been saying it plans to resume generating electricity at Palisades by the end of this year. But as crews race to complete repairs, that timeline has now been pushed back.
“We are planning for a Palisades restart in early 2026, following completion of ongoing project activities,” said Holtec spokesperson Nick Culp.
Hundreds of workers have been at the plant for more than a year, taking apart and reassembling major components in an effort to bring the plant back into operating status.
A significant setback happened last year, when an inspection found that thousands of tubes from the plant’s steam generator were cracked and needed repair.
Opponents of the restart blamed Holtec for not properly protecting the steam generator system when it went offline. They’ve also argued the steam generator itself needs to be replaced.
But Holtec has moved forward with a plan to insert sleeves into the tubes to fortify them.
Federal regulators have given initial approval for the plant to return to operating status, but other hurdles remain before power generation can resume.
The federal government has also offered up to $1.52 billion in loan guarantees to fund the restart. The state of Michigan gave $150 million.
When power production resumes, Palisades can generate up to 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.
