Michigan Atomic Plant shows problems that are safely restarted by old reactors

Covert, Michigan, is a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Michigan, seeking a story this fall, becoming the first reactor in the United States, which restored operations after closing to eventually dismantle.

Efforts to reboot a palisad plant near South Haven, which closed three years ago is a precedent event that can pave the way for others sInterested in reactors to return to the internet.

But Palisades needs a lot of repair to safely recover, emphasizing the problems that the industry will face to bring the plants to life.

Polisads started commercial operations in 1971 during the early wave of reactor construction in the United States, the plant constantly stopped operations in 2022, one of the dozen reactors in recent years, as the nuclear energy fought for competition with lower natural gas and renewable sources.

Plant owner, Holtec International, said he was hoping Restart the roses this fallGiven the approval of the nuclear regulation commission. The restart project is supported by a $ 1.5 billion loan guarantee from the Energy Department, $ 1.3 billion from the Ministry of Agriculture and $ 300 million.

The Energy Department on Monday approved the release of nearly $ 57 million from the loan, a sign that Trump administration supports the project amid shock and uncertainty in Washington over federal financing projects launched under the Biden administration.

But Holtte is facing a large repair of aging steam -generators of palisade who can detain the schedule that NRC called the demanding. Holtte revealed to the regulator that his inspections had discovered damaged pipes in two plant generators, which were installed in 1990.

These pipes are the most important components that protect the population. If the pipe is torn at the nuclear power plant, there is a risk that the radioactive material will be released into the environment, According to NRC. Plant owners are obliged to demonstrate NRC that if the tube does not succeed, any radiological production outside the factory will remain below what the regulator describes as “conservative boundaries”.

“NRC is afraid of the death of steamboat pipes. This is a very real accident. It’s not hypothetically,” said Alan Slap, who held the position of engineering director in Palisades from 2006 to 2013 under the previous Entergy plant. Blind, which is now retired, said it supports nuclear energy but is concerned about the state of the palisades based on a decade of experience in the field.

Currently, Palisades is in a safe state, said NRC press -secretary Scott Bernel because steaming generators are not used because the plant closes and discharged.

Holtec President Kelly Tris said CNBC that the company made a “complete characteristic” generators, and “they are completely repaired”. The company asked NRC to complete its review plan by August 15, but federal regulators are skeptical of the company’s schedule.

The head of the NRC department Steve Bloom warned Holtek during a public meeting on January 14 that the work required to consider the plan “will add to a schedule that is already very aggressive.” Eric Reichelt, a senior NRC engineer, called the schedule “very demanding”, telling Holtek at the meeting that there are only a few people in the normative body to do the necessary work.

Radioactive water that circulates through the reactor and clean water that throws in the generators does not come into contact with each other. If the tube is torn, however, polluted water is mixed with clean water and radioactive According to NRC.

According to the company Submission to NRC In October 2024, the pipes did not fail, Holtec CEO Krishna Singh said in February CNBC. According to the application, several corrosion with more than 70% penetrated.

From -the age of the plant, steamed generating pipes Palisades are made from alloy, which the industry has since learned that it is prone to hacking corrosion, According to NRC. HOLTEC said that the pipe recovery technique called “sleeves” is used, in which a better alloy is inserted and expanded to seal the damage.

“The methods of repair, which we use, called sleeves, is made in approximately 10 plants around the world, and in some plants each shutdown is carried out, so it is not a new, exotic technology,” said Tris. “This is a general repair technique, and we expect it to be done on time and on the schedule.”

Holtek’s repair plan is scheduled to start this summer after checking and testing, said Nick CNBC’s press. Holtec can go forward with pipe repair in its schedule, but the company makes it at its own risk, as NRC decides whether the requirements are in line with the repair, Bernel said.

But during the meeting on January 14, the head of the NRC Bloom branch pushed Holtek’s statements that the company’s repair plan was carrying out the precedent of the industry.

“Although you are quoting without holding a precedent, it is not quite because it is another material, another type of sleeve,” Bloom said at a January meeting. The sleeve design that offers Holtec for repair has not previously been installed in steal generator According to the submission of the company.

The sleeves are made of alloy, which did not show signs of cracking in the US or international plants, the application said. The component has a service life for no more than 10 years, the submission said. Culp said testing and sleeve analysis “maintain long -term performance.”

The problems with the pipes raise the question of whether the aging steamed generators should be replaced, an expensive project, which preliminary palisada owners knew that they would be needed at some point, but never resolved.

Consumers energyFor example, sold the palissada Enzyme In 2007, $ 380 million partially from the “significant capital costs required for the plant”, including the replacement of steamed generators, the application said with Commission on Public Service Michigan.

Energy consumers believe that generators should be replaced in 2016, the submission said. However, Entergy did not replace them after the acquisition of palisades. The utility found that the acquisition of new generators would make the plant economically impossible, said the blind, which at this time was the engineering director in Palisades.

“They felt that under their experience, that they could extend the remaining life, and exactly what they did until they closed it,” Slay said.

In May 2022, Entergy closed the palisades and sold Holtek plant to take dismantling. But the governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer’s Letter to the Energy Department They pushed to push the palisades, referring to the work supported by the plant, and the need for a reliable force without carbon. Backed by the governor’s office, Holtek first applied for federal support Restart the roses two months after its closure.

On February 15, 2000, operators in the Indian Point 2 section received a notification that the steal generator has failed, the NRC report said. Consolidated Edison According to the regulator, he released a warning and closed the plant. It will remain closed for 11 months until the cause of the rupture was examined and the state of four steaming generators was analyzed.

Following Report on NRC Operational Group. According to the report, the incident “did not affect health and safety”. However, NRC slammed con edison out Red citationThe most serious violation, after determining the leak, was a “high security value”.

The leak was kept and there was no evacuation of neighboring communities, but the authorities in the Vestchester district were deeply concerned about the risk of the public at the time, said the vice -president of Kondisson’s nuclear energy during the incident.

“We contained all the radioactive water, but they were so scary that they were very close to the closure of all schools,” the blind said. “They were not going to make the children coming to school in the morning until they saw it all. All this is very serious.”

The leak was expensive for Con Edison. The utility replaced four steaming generators on Estimated account up to 150 million dollarsAccording to the company’s application from time. The bill would be higher if the Co -Edison had no replacement generators. The utility has owned a replacement generators since 1988 but has not established them. Kon Edison also paid more than $ 130 million in charge of 11-month shutdown at the plant.

Blind said Congo Edison decided to replace steamboat generators at the Indian point to reduce the risk that the plant would have another tube gap.

“We were a publicly trade company,” Slay said. “And it went from the council, it was said that we could not live with this uncertainty.”

Utility Sold Indian units 1 and 2 for Entergy $ 502 million in 2001 as part of an agreement, which also included gasoturus assets. The sale was considered before the tube rupture. Con Edison estimated the loss after taxation of $ 170 million from the sale of Indian item, According to the submission From time.

Blind said the planned Palisades reboot rates are high for the entire nuclear industry. Demand for nuclear energy is growing again in the US as a state, utilities, and the technology sector is looking for a more reliable, without carbon power. Updated interest was called “nuclear revival” after many years of reactor shutdown in the US

The energy constellationFor example plans to restart it The island three miles The plant in 2028 was approved by NRC. The constellation said the steamboat generators at the plant had a check and service and are in good condition. Nextera Energy announced In July 2024, it evaluates or restarting it Plant Duein Arnold In Iowa is possible.

The incident in the palisade “would be devastating for the entire industry,” Slepa said. “There would be calls to rethink this idea of ​​revival,” he said.

Culp Holtec said the sleeves used to restore steaming generators in rose -to -rose will constantly monitor, inspect and be subject to supervision while they are in the service. The plant uses several layers of defense “to protect our labor, society and the environment,” he said.

Bernella said NRC inspectors would carry out the Holtek repair activities, and provides steal generators to fulfill all the requirements for safe work, Bernel said. “This includes ensuring that the public and the environment are protected from radiological problems,” the NRC press secretary said.