On the shore of Lake Michigan in the small town of Covert, located between South Haven and the Benton Harbor/St Joseph area, stands the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant. Built in 1971 by Consumers Energy, the utility owned, occupied, and operated the plant until Palisades was eventually closed. Recent efforts to reopen the facility are foolhardy and costly, with enormous federal and state funds being pledged to the unprecedented proposal to restart a shuttered nuclear power plant.
Serious problems and several long shutdowns have riddled the plant since day one. In 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) declared Palisades one of the four worst-performing nuclear plants in the country.
When Consumers Energy sold Palisades in 2007, the plant’s costs for producing energy were 57 percent more than competing energy sources. Because of the the continual problems, closings, and costs, the plant was not profitable and was a financial risk. In 2007, Entergy purchased the plant from Consumers Energy, only to soon encounter the same problems. Neither Consumers Energy nor Entergy wanted to invest the huge amounts needed to keep an old, failing nuclear plant on its last legs. Entergy tried to close it, and ultimately, the Michigan Public Service Commission sanctioned the closing request. Palisades was actually forced to shutter a couple of weeks earlier than planned due to control rod failure, which is essential for safe operation.
The closing was great news for customers forced to pay energy rates more than 50% above those charged to customers of non-nuclear plants. The communities close to the plant were delighted to see the closing after many years of significant concerns for their health and environment. Besides all the problems of the plant itself, nearby residents faced health issues. One family living close to the plant since it was built has seen three members struck with thyroid cancer, which they believe may have been related to their proximity to Palisades.
Palisades is located on the Lake Michigan shoreline in shifting sand dunes, where fluctuating and increasing water levels, storm surges, and heavy rainfalls erode the coastal areas. As a result of erosion near the plant, structures have fallen into Lake Michigan. In addition, with no permanent disposal site for Palisades’ nuclear waste, the plant’s radioactive waste is stored in concrete casks near Lake Michigan. Storing ever-more nuclear waste in this ever-changing climate seems like a dangerous gamble, mainly since the Great Lakes provide water to 40 million people.
Reopening the Palisades nuclear power plant is a foolish way to use $1.5 billion of state and federal funding while rate-payers incur even more costs. According to the independent 'World Nuclear Industry Status Report', nuclear energy meets no operational or energy needs that low-carbon competitors cannot meet better, cheaper, and faster.
For more information, read "Risky Resurrection: Reopening the Palisades Nuclear Plant Would be a Costly Mistake for Michigan", page 13 of the Michigan Chapter's Spring/Summer 2024 Mackinac newsletter.