The Palisades Nuclear Plant is located on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, a short two-hour drive from Chicago. It came online in 1971 and was retired in 2022, ranked at the time as the eighth-oldest nuclear plant in the country. Now, the plant is set to restart and make history as the first American nuclear plant to do so. 

The Palisades plant would not just mark the first reopening of a nuclear plant in the United States—it would be one of the first times this has happened anywhere in the world. Holtec International, the owner of the plant, is reopening because Palisades will provide a clean, affordable, and consistent source of power at a time when clean energy is in high demand to power the data centers that are coming online. The company has also highlighted the economic benefits of reopening the plant, noting that it will provide hundreds of jobs in the local community. 

The lifespan of your average nuclear plant is getting longer and longer. Most reactors operating today were designed to run for 30 to 40 years, and many plants across the United States are already in their 40s. However, that lifespan is starting to be stretched even further—experts now say there is no technical limit that would keep nuclear reactors that are already 40 years old from working for another 40 years or longer. 

Today, armed with the knowledge that nuclear plants can function for far longer than initially intended, the idea of bringing retired plants back online is gaining traction. However, restarting a retired plant is more complicated than turning on a few switches. Among other challenges, plant operators must navigate government red tape to bring reactors back online. In that regard, the federal government recently granted Palisades the green light to move forward.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted the Palisades plant multiple necessary licensing and regulatory approvals. While there are still hurdles to clear, getting the green light from the NRC to move forward is a good sign. “The NRC’s approval to transition Palisades back to an operating license represents an unprecedented milestone in U.S. nuclear energy,” said Holtec President Kelly Trice. Holtec aims to bring Palisades back online later this year, ambitious but potentially doable with the recent NRC approvals. 

Palisades is not the only American nuclear plant that could come out of retirement. NextEra Energy is considering reopening Iowa’s Duane Arnold Energy Center, which closed in 2020. Meanwhile, Microsoft is working with Constellation Energy to reopen Three Mile Island’s Unit 1, which was decommissioned in 2019. 

Nineteen nuclear reactors have been retired in the United States over the past 30 years. While not all of them may be eligible to be brought back online, reinstating operations at still-functional nuclear plants could be a way to easily expand nuclear capacity without building new plants. As demand for clean, consistent energy increases, bringing plants out of retirement is one way to meet this demand. 

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.