By Lindsay Potter
In January, Holtec International applied a second time for billions in taxpayer-funded federal and state bailouts to restart the Palisades nuclear reactor on the shore of Lake Michigan – source of drinking water for over 12 million people. This despite Holtec’s continued plans to illegally dump more than two million gallons of radioactive wastewater from other decommissioned reactors into the Hudson River and Cape Cod Bay. Former owner Entergy shut down the reactor eleven days ahead of schedule in May 2022 due to risks from Palisades’ crumbling infrastructure, among the world’s most embrittled. Holtec failed to explain how it will find funding, train operators, procure $50 million in fresh nuclear fuel, obtain an operating license, or develop quality control. The NRC granted permission to destroy decades of safety documents as part of decommissioning, further complicating a possible restart. A recent letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, with 115 signatories, requests the DOE deny Holtec’s bailout application, urging Palisades does not qualify. The DOE denied Holtec’s first application for a federal bailout, filed in July 2022. — Beyond Nuclear press releases, Feb. 14, Feb. 6, Jan. 23, 2023 and Dec. 19, 2022.
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