The plan to restart Michigan’s decommissioned Palisades nuclear power plant—which would be a global first—was driven by surging demand for electricity and new investment in green energy.
Note: I have followed the instructions on how to share an article from the WSJ, but it doesn’t look any different to me than just pasting the URL in. Hope it works:
COVERT, Mich.—When Michigan mothballed the Palisades nuclear power plant in 2022, the facility looked like a perfect relic of nuclear power’s 1970s heyday. Walls were painted salmon pink and pale green. Control panels had analog dials, manual switches and hundreds of lights that flash green or red to indicate on or off. The valves, levers and ductwork in the turbine room gave off a steampunk vibe.
Just two years later, the 53-year-old plant’s owners are implementing a historic decision to give it another go. The federal government and the state of Michigan are spending nearly $2 billion to restart the reactor on the shores of Lake Michigan. When it reopens, Palisades will become the first decommissioned nuclear plant anywhere to be put back to work.
On the subject of keeping old nuclear plants running, the NRC recently approved a license extension for the North Anna plant in Virginia. The two reactors are now cleared to operate to 2058 and 2060, for an 80 year lifespan.
RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today approved Dominion Energy Virginia’s application to extend North Anna Power Station’s operating licenses for an additional 20 years.
Also: The North Anna units were originally licensed to operate for 40 years in 1978 and 1980. Their licenses were renewed for an additional 20 years in 2003, following a stringent federal review process. Under its current licenses, North Anna reactors 1 and 2 could have operated through 2038 and 2040, respectively. With the renewed licenses, the units can operate through 2058 and 2060, respectively.
Any power plant that still has all its equipment, systems and structures can be restarted. It only requires lots of money, engineering, construction and time.
I do not know why you are calling this nuclear power plant green energy. It is not green energy - it is low carbon energy.
Then by that quibble, are not all green energy solutions actually low carbon solutions? Even solar and wind require carbon in their creation, production, transmission, and maintenance.
Now I’m going to go back and update all my previous posts about my solar panels, which require glass, aluminum, copper, plastic, steel, zinc, and lots of petrol energy to produce, transport, and install.
Green energy is energy that can be produced using a method, and from a source, that causes no harm to the natural environment.
I’ve seen diesel trucks delivering wind turbine blades and how are solar panels made and shipped?
Now, if one is only counting after the blades are installed and spinning and the sun is shining on the installed panels why don’t atoms splitting and heating water count?
Fossil fueled energy is not clean, not green and not renewable.
Nuclear energy is clean but not green and not renewable
Renewable energy is clean, green and renewable.
If the plant was mothballed properly restarting should not be a big deal. Stainless steel is probably fine but must watch for corrosion. Mechanical parts like motors, pumps and valves probably need maintenance and maybe replacement.
What about electronics and controls? Update or use the old? Is the old still reliable?
All safety related components, systems and structures (CSS) must meet NRC requirements to fully perform their safety functions during and after all manmade and natural accidents. The NRC will determine what needs to be replaced, updated to meet the quality requirements for all CSS. Some controls systems, instruments and wiring are not qualified for more than 50 years. They may need to be replaced for this old nuclear power plant.
I don’t know, but just because the plant was shutdown and “mothballed” wouldn’t they have still had to operate the residual heat removal systems and monitor them from a control room. Residual heat last for years and years.
After the fuel has cooled for 5 years or so in the pool, it can be moved to dry cask storage. See link from NRC here.
It appears Palisades already has some dry fuel casks positioned at the north-east portion of the plant.
My biggest concern would be the condition of the steam generators. They needed to be properly laid-up with all of the water removed and with preferably an inert atmosphere like nitrogen. Steam generators in a PWR this old can be a problem.
Holtec does appear to be serious about restarting this plant. They recently announced replacement of two large heat exchangers. The following article doesn’t say exactly what these heat exchangers are, but from the description and the picture, it looks to me like these are the service water (also called component cooling water) heat exchangers.
That is one of many major concerns. Remember the two San Onofre nuclear reactors in California were shutdown permanently because of many problems with their steam generators.