TodayToday's edition
The NRC gave notice on Nov. 10 that it received Part 2 of Holtec's Pioneer SMR-300 permit application, filed Sept. 30 and still in acceptance review. A hyperscaler framework for up to 680 MW is not yet an offtake contract.
Nuclear & Microgrids DeskEdited by Ege Erten
4 min readAI-assisted
Holtec rendering of the planned Pioneer One and Two SMR-300 plant at Palisades, Michigan.
Image: Holtec International (rendering)
Source · Press image from the Holtec International website, used for news reporting.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave notice on Nov. 10 that it received Part 2 of the construction permit application for Holtec's Pioneer SMR-300 plant in Michigan: Pioneer 1 and 2, two reactors that Holtec says will add 680 MWe of generating capacity.
The Federal Register notice, 2026-22884, is the first of four weekly notices. It says SMR, LLC filed the part on Sept. 30 on behalf of Palisades SMR, LLC, a wholly owned Holtec subsidiary. The notice carries dockets 50-616 and 50-617, the numbers opened for Part 1. Part 2 holds a complete preliminary safety analysis report (PSAR), an updated quality assurance topical report and a set of exemption requests. NRC staff are now running the acceptance review: Part 2 has not been accepted for docketing, and no hearing notice for it has been published. The site is in Covert, Michigan.
That 680 MWe figure is why the filing matters for data-center supply. Holtec's amended IPO prospectus, filed with the SEC on Sept. 8, said it had entered into a binding framework agreement with an unnamed hyperscaler toward a definitive agreement for the long-term off-take of up to 680 MW from the two Pioneer units, plus a commercialization agreement covering 3 GW from later SMR-300 projects. The same document said Holtec had not yet entered definitive agreements with customers to take delivery of, or off-take power from, an SMR-300. The framework is binding, but it is not the power purchase agreement. Holtec asked the SEC on Sept. 25 to withdraw that registration, saying it no longer wishes to conduct a public offering at this time, so the prospectus was never declared effective.
The SMR-300 is a pressurized-water reactor: ordinary water cools the core and is kept under pressure so it does not boil, and the heat raises steam in a separate loop. Holtec describes a two-loop design with an integrated steam generator and pressurizer. The output figures differ by source. The NRC's January 2026 release on the first part of the application says each unit would produce approximately 340 MWe, and Holtec's product page lists 340 MWe net and about 1,000 MWt of thermal output per unit. The NRC's own SMR-300 design page lists 300 MW(e) rated net, and World Nuclear News gives about 300 MWe, or 1,050 MWt for process applications. The 680 MWe plant total is Holtec's figure.
Holtec's prospectus said it chose a water-cooled reactor that uses conventional nuclear fuel, avoiding the uncertainties of a Gen 4 design. Holtec says a two-unit plant would need about 270 employees.
Holtec's Sept. 8 prospectus said it held 100% of the equity in Pioneer One and Two and intended to sell some or all of it later. The Department of Energy selected Holtec in December 2025 for its Tier 1 First Mover Award, which Holtec expects to provide a $400 million grant for Pioneer, subject to conditions that include negotiating and signing a funding agreement. A selection is not yet money in hand. Under a strategic teaming arrangement, Hyundai Engineering & Construction is to serve as the exclusive engineering, procurement and construction delivery partner for the SMR-300 program, according to the prospectus. Holtec has not disclosed a cost estimate for Pioneer; completing a Class 2 construction estimate is one of its next tasks, it said on Sept. 30.
Holtec chose the two-step Part 50 route: a construction permit first, then a separate operating licence. It is seeking the permit in two parts. Part 1, filed Dec. 31, 2025, asked for a limited work authorization (LWA), which the NRC says covers early construction such as soil compaction, backfilling and installing foundations, along with three exemption requests and an environmental report. The NRC accepted it and published a hearing-opportunity notice on Feb. 27, 2026. Part 2 seeks approval to complete construction. Neither part lets Holtec run a reactor: the NRC says a permit holder must still reach further safety milestones to obtain a licence to operate.
World Nuclear News reports that an NRC exemption dated Aug. 28 already allows permanent excavation-support and cutoff-wall systems for both units. In January, the NRC said it anticipated Part 2 by mid-2027; Holtec filed it on Sept. 30, 2026. The NRC said then that its review of a docketed application is planned on a schedule of no more than 18 months, but it has set no schedule for Part 2 yet.
Three LWA and filing steps are done; the December 2026 draft SER is Holtec's expectation, and the January and March 2027 dates are NRC targets.
Illustration (AI-generated)
The LWA schedules do not quite line up. The NRC's project page lists a draft safety evaluation with information gaps on the LWA as completed on Aug. 31, an advanced safety evaluation targeted for Jan. 31, 2027, and the final safety evaluation and final environmental impact statement targeted for March 31, 2027. Holtec said on Sept. 30 it expects the NRC's draft safety evaluation report on the LWA in December 2026. Holtec targets commercial operation in the early 2030s.
Pioneer would sit beside the 805 MWe Palisades plant, which Holtec is restarting with no date set, as Voltgrid's project file on the restart explains. Palisades' output is sold under PPAs to two electric cooperatives, Wolverine and Hoosier, so Pioneer is the part of the site a hyperscaler could buy.
For comparison, the NRC issued a construction permit on Nov. 9 for Dow's four-unit, 320 MWe Long Mott plant; Pioneer's Part 2 has not yet been accepted for docketing.
As Voltgrid argued on Nov. 10, permits are arriving faster; the harder part is now the owner's money and contracts.
Three more weekly receipt notices follow. If the NRC accepts Part 2 for docketing, later notices will cover docketing and public participation; the NRC has given no date. December 2026 is Holtec's expected date for the draft safety evaluation on the LWA. Jan. 31, 2027 is the NRC's target for the advanced safety evaluation on the LWA, and March 31, 2027 for the LWA's final safety evaluation and final environmental impact statement; neither is a construction permit decision. Outside the NRC, the signals that would make Pioneer firm are a signed DOE funding agreement, a definitive power purchase agreement with the hyperscaler, and the name of that buyer.
