Entergy's Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan shuts permanently

Entergy's 845-MW Palisades plant in Covert, Michigan, shut permanently May 20, more than a week earlier than scheduled due to a maintenance issue, the company said.

The unit began coasting to its planned May 31 shutdown May 18, with a plan to gradually reduce output for several days. However, operators shut the unit May 20 as the result of issues with a control rod drive seal, Entergy said in a statement.

Holtec International, a company specializing in decommissioning and spent fuel management, agreed to buy Palisades in 2018 and carry out decommissioning, with the transaction to be completed by June 30, following the plant's defueling.

Once the sale is complete, Entergy will have exited the nuclear merchant plant business, an action it began with the shutdown of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts in 2019, followed by the closure of the two units at the Indian Point plant in New York, one in 2020 and the other in 2021.

Palisades' closure coincides with the end of a 15-year power purchase agreement with utility Consumers Energy.

Merchant nuclear units had faced competition from other forms of generation and, in the case of the New York units, opposition from state officials.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has suggested using a new federal nuclear plant credit program to keep Palisades open. Entergy officials have stressed that the plant must cease operating in May because it would run out of nuclear fuel. Workers at the facility have been preparing for its closure for months.

Palisades began commercial operation in December 1971.

Entergy said the plant ended its operations with a 577-day continuous operating run that started during its last refueling outage. The run was a record for the site and a world record for a Combustion Engineering plant design, it said.