COVERT, Mich. -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it has approved a series of licensing and regulatory actions to pave the way for the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant.

The announcement states that in late 2023, Holtec began filing licensing and regulatory requests to support the restart of the plant.

The NRC approvals allow Holtec to load fuel, but several licensing actions remain under NRC review and additional requirements need to be met before the restart under the original operating license, which expires Mar. 24, 2031.

The NRC states it has approved the transfer of operating authority for the plant and its independent spent fuel storage facility from Holtec Decommissioning International LLC to Palisades Energy LLC following technical reviews.

The NRC has also approved Holtec’s request to reinstate documents and programs that were in place before the shutdown.

Some of them are technical specifications, emergency plans, emergency action levels, and physical security plan, as well as programs for quality assurance, maintenance, and in-service inspections.

In the May report, the NRC staff’s evaluation and conclusion was that there are no significant environmental impacts from restarting Palisades.

You can learn more about the restarting of Palisades on the NRC website.