Holtec's Palisades Restart: 805 MWe, No Date After Fuel Recovery

Holtec International said on Oct. 21, 2026 that the Palisades restart still has no date, after crews recovered a tilted fuel assembly at the 805 MWe plant in Covert, Michigan. This project file follows that recovery, an event in the last 30 days that had only a news story, published on Oct. 24.

Fuel loading has already started, and the electricity is already assigned. Holtec describes long-term power purchase agreements with Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy. Michigan Public reported a commitment to sell power by March 1, 2027. Holtec's Oct. 21 statement sets no restart date, so that March date is a sales commitment, not a schedule for generation.

The technology

Palisades is the reactor that already stands in Covert Township, on Lake Michigan, not a new small modular unit. Holtec said on Aug. 30 that loading began that morning and placed the plant in Mode 6, the refueling mode in its technical specifications. The core has 204 fuel assemblies, new fuel mixed with partially used assemblies from the plant's last operating cycles, and Holtec said that core is designed to support 805 MWe. The Department of Energy's project page describes the same station as 800 MW and says it stopped generating in May 2022. Those are two separate statements of size. Holtec said the work already done includes reinforcement of tubes in both steam generators, replacement of control-rod drive nozzles, chemical cleaning of the primary system and reactor-vessel inspections. After loading finishes, testing, inspections and startup work still have to show that systems are fit to run.

The deal and the money

The support on record is a federal loan, unnamed state help and cooperative power contracts. In September 2024 the Department of Energy closed a $1.52 billion loan to Holtec Palisades, LLC to pay for restoration and a return to service. Holtec's Aug. 30 statement also cites financial support from the State of Michigan and does not give a figure. The same statement says the long-term agreements with Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy helped make the restart possible. Michigan Public reported that a contract commits the company to sell power by March 1, 2027. The price, the length of each agreement and any fee for missing that date were not stated in Holtec's Aug. 30 release or in Michigan Public's Oct. 22 report.

Licensing and timeline

Palisades Energy, LLC holds Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-20. On Oct. 13, 2026 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued Amendment No. 283 under exigent circumstances, the Federal Register notice says. The change revises two sections of the safety report, on a one-time basis, so fuel assembly DD41 can travel from the reactor to the spent fuel pool by a path the report did not previously describe, inside an engineered canister. The notice says the plant entered refueling mode and began loading on Aug. 30, and that DD41 tilted to about 30 degrees in core location H-1 after the refueling machine released it. The amendment authorizes that recovery. It does not authorize the plant to make electricity. Holtec said on Oct. 21 that a Fuel Movement Device, built in two weeks because standard refueling equipment could not make the lift, had moved the assembly into the pool. Hearing requests on the amendment are due Dec. 21, 2026. Michigan Public reported that Holtec and the commission are still examining why the assembly tipped, and that about 1,400 cracked steam-generator tubes had already pushed the restart back by a year. Holtec says the plant runs when loading, testing, inspections and readiness work are finished and federal requirements are met.

What it means for data centers

The offtakers Holtec names are two rural cooperatives, not a data-center operator. That separates this restart from the other two US projects in Voltgrid's Oct. 21 roundup, where Microsoft and Google are the buyers. An existing reactor can reach the grid sooner than a plant that still needs a construction permit, but only after the remaining federal requirements are met and Holtec names a date. The Department of Energy's project page says a finished restart would be the first recommissioning of a retired US nuclear plant and would supply the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, subject to commission approvals, through at least 2051. A record of decision published in the Federal Register on Aug. 5, 2024 is narrower. It covers restoration and maintenance at an 800 MWe station, says approvals then pending would allow operation until 2031, and says Holtec intends to ask for an extension from 2031 to 2051. Neither year is a restart licence the commission has issued.

What to watch

Dec. 21, 2026 is the last day to request a hearing on Amendment 283. Holtec has not dated the end of fuel loading or the start of generation. March 1, 2027 remains the sales commitment Michigan Public reported, and it is not a restart date until the reactor is generating. A run past 2031 would need the extension Holtec told the Department of Energy it intends to request. The project page still describes service through at least 2051 as subject to commission approvals.