Palisades Nuclear Generating Station

The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station is a moth-balled nuclear power plant located on Lake Michigan, in Van Buren County's Covert Township, Michigan, on a 432-acre (175 ha) site 5 miles (8.0 km) south of South Haven, Michigan, USA. Palisades was operated by the Nuclear Management Company and owned by CMS Energy Corporation prior to the sale to Entergy on April 11, 2007.

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant
Palisades Power Plant in 1974
Official namePalisades Power Plant
CountryUnited States
LocationCovert Township, Van Buren County, Michigan
Coordinates42°19′22″N 86°18′52″W
StatusShut down
Construction beganMarch 12, 1967 (1967-03-12)
Commission dateDecember 29, 1971 (1971-12-29)
Decommission dateMay 20, 2022 (2022-05-20) (Permanent shutdown - being reversed)
Construction cost$630 million (2007 USD)[1]
Owner(s)Holtec International
Operator(s)Entergy Nuclear (former)
Nuclear power station
Reactor typePWR
Reactor supplierCombustion Engineering
Cooling towers2 × mechanical draft cooling towers[lower-alpha 1]
Cooling sourceLake Michigan
Thermal capacity1 × 2565 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 805 MWe
Make and modelCE 2-loop (DRYAMB)
Nameplate capacity805 MWe
Capacity factor99.2% (2021)
72.2% (lifetime)
Annual net output7,014 GWh (2021)
External links
WebsitePalisades Power Plant (plant page)
Palisades Power Plant (plant site)
CommonsRelated media on Commons

Its single Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor weighs 425 tons and has steel walls 8+1⁄2 inches (220 mm) thick. The containment building is 116 feet (35 m) in diameter and 189 feet (58 m) tall, including the dome. Its concrete walls are 3+1⁄2 feet (1.1 m) thick with a 1⁄4-inch-thick (6.4 mm) steel liner plate. The dome roof is 3 feet (0.91 m) thick. Access is via a personnel lock measuring 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) by 7 feet 8 inches (2.34 m). The Westinghouse Electric Company turbine generator can produce 725,000 kilowatts of electricity.

Built between 1967 and 1970, Palisades was approved to operate at full power in 1973.[3]

On July 12, 2006, it was announced that the plant would be sold to Entergy. On April 11, 2007, the plant was sold to Entergy for $380 million.[4] The plant's original licensee was due to expire on March 24, 2011. An application for 20-year extension was filed in 2005 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was granted on January 18, 2007. Therefore, the plant was then scheduled for decommissioning by 2031.[5]

Entergy had made a decision to close the plant in October 2018. A decision by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) influenced the company's decision. Consumers Energy attempted to buy its way out of a power purchase agreement it has with Entergy and the plant. The MPSC did not approve Consumer Energy's full request of $172 million, so Entergy decided to keep the plant open three years longer than planned.[6] On April 20, 2022, just weeks before the facility was scheduled to close, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer requested federal funding to keep the facility open.[7]

Entergy closed the Palisades plant in May 2022[8][9] and its sale to Holtec International was completed in June 2022.[10] However, in September 2022, Holtec applied for funds from the Civil Nuclear Credit to reopen the plant.[11] This request was denied in November 2022 [12] In December 2022, Holtec announced that it will reapply for funds from the Civil Nuclear Credit in order to restart Palisades.[13] Other efforts have been made to "repower" the plant.[14] On September 12, 2023, Holtec and Wolverine Power Cooperative announced that they had reached a power purchase agreement to restart the plant once the re-opening is approved.[15]

Electricity production
Generation (MWh) of Palisades Power Plant[16]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 592,991 512,071 571,285 2,663 298,038 371,256 -3,857 -2,260 -2,114 -2,025 -1,979 -5,023 2,331,046
2002 168,721 535,946 600,727 576,904 577,499 537,795 582,568 568,090 545,479 591,278 565,875 507,080 6,357,962
2003 591,649 525,637 288,895 151,228 591,727 566,907 560,312 572,715 562,716 588,899 553,522 597,274 6,151,481
2004 597,162 537,116 596,098 569,271 583,466 560,078 461,033 429,413 196,447 -2,294 218,324 597,732 5,343,846
2005 397,709 541,624 598,387 574,581 590,400 562,735 581,101 576,704 497,868 583,085 559,996 579,426 6,643,616
2006 483,519 547,734 602,942 -2,481 219,549 576,782 585,700 590,628 574,389 602,582 518,820 603,697 5,903,861
2007 603,143 497,774 485,071 583,991 465,196 569,217 585,433 582,322 149,115 118,585 581,425 604,743 5,826,015
2008 541,751 566,389 607,111 579,786 556,350 567,071 582,065 486,670 567,326 595,073 581,797 603,347 6,834,736
2009 602,883 456,765 408,921 0 556,099 572,986 586,004 584,081 569,329 596,345 580,914 604,383 6,118,710
2010 605,062 546,938 593,732 562,212 594,771 445,015 523,828 579,406 556,104 52,104 581,983 599,506 6,240,661
2011 470,918 549,704 599,520 586,084 601,466 575,531 587,675 587,482 382,827 558,063 579,535 562,215 6,641,020
2012 520,384 560,994 559,117 70,773 337,644 223,603 379,584 232,642 572,715 598,924 516,978 604,855 5,178,213
2013 601,801 406,300 601,233 582,500 78,941 240,832 586,088 586,335 570,971 594,112 584,273 608,310 6,041,696
2014 352,746 0 279,059 590,296 603,606 447,510 591,671 587,580 575,159 601,553 586,902 606,844 5,822,926
2015 608,486 548,730 608,445 585,160 592,832 570,012 585,747 578,292 245,693 207,366 583,569 604,188 6,318,520
2016 604,084 567,887 606,693 585,596 594,084 570,444 583,080 583,768 568,757 595,017 580,097 605,674 7,045,181
2017 606,167 546,327 410,108 246,708 153,022 573,633 592,094 591,359 576,289 601,210 589,536 611,043 6,097,496
2018 611,065 552,287 507,808 589,980 602,254 573,853 591,112 585,875 576,132 239,649 0 25,925 5,455,940
2019 490,769 549,023 608,203 587,459 603,692 577,448 506,100 575,922 572,336 600,323 587,265 606,627 6,865,167
2020 607,199 567,646 606,475 585,434 600,016 570,882 583,761 512,269 0 170,462 584,075 606,904 5,995,123
2021 607,642 548,387 607,009 585,761 600,744 572,711 553,246 577,453 571,543 596,151 586,434 607,718 7,014,799
2022 608,772 549,352 607,781 586,628 377,697 0 0 -- -- -- 2,730,230
2023

Spent fuel storage

Spent fuel is stored outdoors in 21 16-foot-tall (4.9 m) storage casks, each containing 30 tons and resting on a concrete pad. This was intended to be a temporary solution until the spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository opened.

Parts replacement

Two steam generators were replaced in 1992. This involved cutting a 28 by 26 foot opening through the 3.5-foot-thick (1.1 m) reinforced concrete wall. The removed units are stored in a large concrete building on plant property.[17]

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.[18]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Palisades was 28,644, a decrease of 4.5 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 1,326,618, an increase of 4.4 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include South Bend, IN (45 miles to city center) and Kalamazoo, MI.[19]

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Palisades was 1 in 156,250, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[20][21]

Visiting
View from Van Buren State Park

Like all U.S. nuclear power plants since September 11, 2001, public access to Palisades is prohibited. However, Palisades can be glimpsed from the neighboring Van Buren State Park.

Decommissioning

Originally planned to operate through May 31, 2022, concerns over a faulty control rod drive seal prompted operators to remove the plant from service on May 20.[22]

Once all fuel is removed from the reactor core, Holtec will buy the plant from Entergy and begin a three year process of moving all fuel to dry cask storage. Then a ten year pause to allow the decommissioning trust fund balance to grow followed by a 6 year long dismantling process, with an estimated completion date of 2041.[23]

The cost of decommissioning will be covered by a $550-million trust fund, paid for by Consumers Energy customers.[24]

See also

Notes
  1. 1 × Ecodyne 18-cell cross-flow induced draft cooling tower, and 1 × SPX Marley 16-cell cross-flow induced draft tower.[2] The plant originally used a once-through cooling system, but it was converted to the current closed-cycle cooling system just three years after entering commercial operation.[2]

References
  1. "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. Palisades - Final Safety Analysis Report Update, Revision 32, Chapter 10 - Steam and Power Conversion System (PDF) (Report). Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  3. Swidwa, Julie (December 9, 2016). "Timeline: Palisades' rocky history". The Herald-Palladium. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  4. "Entergy News Release - Corporate". Entergy.com. 2006-07-12. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  5. "Local News: Extension approved for Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, license, plant, nuclear - wwmt.com". 2007-01-18. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  6. Galford, Chris (2017-09-29). "Palisades Nuclear Power Plant to continue operations until 2022". Daily Energy Insider. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  7. "With Emissions Soaring, Democratic Governors Sour On Plans To Shut Down Nuclear Power". MSN. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  8. Newman, Alexandra (September 29, 2017). "Palisades to stay open to 2022". The Herald-Palladium. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  9. Palisades Power Plant shuts down early, WOODtv, Matt Jaworowski, May 20, 2022
  10. Knot, Juliana (June 28, 2022). "Entergy completes Palisades sale to Holtec, decommissioning begins". The Herald-Palladium. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
  11. Boatman, Michael (10 September 2022). "In surprise move, Whitmer announces plan to reopen shuttered Palisades nuclear plant". Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  12. House, Kelly (21 November 2022). "Feds deny funding to reopen Michigan's Palisades nuclear plant". Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  13. Beggin, Riley. "Owner of Palisades to reapply for funding to reopen nuclear power plant". Detroit News. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  14. Wittkowski, Tony (June 27, 2023). "State, local officials push for urgency to repower former Palisades plant". The Herald-Palladium. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  15. , Retrieved 2023-09-12
  16. "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  17. "Palisades Steam Generator Replacement Project-1992 NOVA Award Winner". Cif.org. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  18. "Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2019-12-22.
  19. Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, NBC News, April 14, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42555888/ns/us_news-life/t/nuclear-neighbors-population-rises-near-us-reactors/#.XPHsAehJEgw Accessed May 31, 2019.
  20. Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," NBC News, March 17, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42103936 Accessed April 19, 2011.
  21. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2011-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. Weidmayer, Marie. "Palisades nuclear power plant shuts down 11 days early". MLive. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  23. Jennerjahn, Allie. "Palisades nuclear power plant plans for 19 year decommissioning". NewsChannel 3. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  24. Muyskens, Carolyn. "Regulators approve sale of soon-to-be-shuttered Palisades Nuclear Plant". The Holland Sentinel. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
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