DOE releases $56.7M in second round of Palisades loan funding

The latest action releases almost $57 million of the possible $1.52 billion loan guarantee to Holtec for Palisades. Holtec hope to return the plant to service—producing 800 MW of baseload power—by the end of this year.

Holtec leadership has noted that it is pleased with the continued support from the Department of Energy. “With a workforce of approximately 600 full-time employees, and 1,000 specialized contractors currently at the site, we are well on our way to helping unleash American energy and we remain committed to working to bring the facility back online in the fourth quarter of 2025,” said Nick Culp, Holtec’s senior manager of government affairs and communications, in an email to Nuclear News.

“We remain on time and under budget in our efforts for this historic restart. The announcement is a reaffirmation of the important role that nuclear energy plays here in the United States to meet growing demand and fortify our nation’s energy security.”

Palisades will be the nation’s first restarted commercial nuclear reactor that ceased operations, subject to Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing approvals. The plant is projected to support or retain up to 600 high-quality jobs––many of them filled by workers who had previously been at the plant for more than 20 years.

Quotable: “Unleashing American energy dominance will require leveraging all energy sources that are affordable, reliable, and secure—including nuclear energy,” Wright said in a news release about the funding disbursement. “[This] is yet another step toward advancing President Trump’s commitment to increase domestic energy production, bolster our security, and lower costs for the American people.”

A closer look: This is Holtec’s second disbursement from funds that were first announced in September 2024 by the Loan Programs Office. LPO funds go toward the plant restart and ensuring the plant is NRC compliant.

Palisades shut down in May 2022 and subsequently was acquired by Holtec for decommissioning. In October 2023, Holtec submitted an operating licensing application for Palisades to the NRC with the intention of seeking financial assistance from the DOE to restore the facility’s commercial operations. In parallel, Holtec has also applied for a subsequent license renewal that would allow Palisades to operate until at least 2051.

Holtec also hopes to add small modular reactors at the Palisades site, located on Lake Michigan in Covert Township, Mich., last month announcing plans with Hyundai Engineering & Construction to build a 10-GW fleet of Holtec-designed SMR-300s in North America. The first two are slated for the Palisades site, under a project called Mission 2030 that is targeting operation by the end of this decade.

Hyundai E&C just completed its lead construction role at the four-unit Barakah plan in the United Arab Emirates, which Holtec hopes will enable the partners to rapidly scale the SMR-300 program in the U.S.

Remember to check out April’s NuclearNews magazine (available April 1) for a look inside Palisades' restart efforts.