Re-Opening a Permanently Shut Nuclear Reactor is a Dangerous Gamble

Forty U.S. nuclear power reactors have shut permanently. But for the first time, an attempt is being made to re-start a closed reactor – the Palisades reactor in southwest Michigan. The American experience with nuclear power began as Cold War fears of nuclear war and health hazards from bomb test fallout were widespread. President Eisenhower’s More

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Palisades Nuclear Generating Station on the shore of Lake Michigan, 1974. Photo: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Forty U.S. nuclear power reactors have shut permanently. But for the first time, an attempt is being made to re-start a closed reactor – the Palisades reactor in southwest Michigan.

The American experience with nuclear power began as Cold War fears of nuclear war and health hazards from bomb test fallout were widespread. President Eisenhower’s 1953 “Atoms for Peace” speech to calm these concerns included using radioactive uranium atoms to generate electricity. It was advertised as cleaner than other sources like coal, and cheaper (most famously described by Atomic Energy Commission chair Lewis Strauss as “too cheap to meter”).

The federal government’s massive efforts to encourage nuclear power were met with problems. Grassroots movements concerned about health dangers damaged its public profile. Reactors also took an excessively long time to plan and construct, at costs far above initial expectations. Banks stopped lending money to build reactors in 1978, and reactor startups ended in the mid-1990s.

As the years passed, reactors aged, and a total of 40 closed (including 13 since 2013). Others threatened to close, but were saved by multibillion-dollar infusions from governments in several states. The recent opening of two reactors in Georgia – which took 18 years and cost $35 billion, far above the $14 billion expected – are likely the last new reactors ever built in the country.

Aging reactors will only get older and require more maintenance. Government bailouts will not last forever. Safe, renewable sources such as wind and solar power are growing rapidly, and now account for 25% of the nation’s electricity – at costs well below nuclear. Nuclear reactors are fading into the sunset.

But in the past year, a new idea has circulated to halt the inevitable–to bring permanently closed reactors back to life. Of the U.S. reactors that have shut, none have ever been re-started. The concept is now being pilot-tested at the Palisades nuclear plant, in southwest Michigan.

Palisades is one of the oldest U.S. reactors; only 7 of 94 reactors now operating are older. It was not a large reactor, with just over half of the capacity of later models, and never generated more than 6% of Michigan’s electricity. Entergy Nuclear, which operated Palisades, closed it in May 2022, as it faced with operating losses and huge costs for mechanical necessities and repairs. Entergy sold the plant to Holtec International, with the stated intention of decommissioning the plant.

As Palisades was closing, lobbyists were swarming the halls of Congress, in a desperate attempt to revive the sagging nuclear industry. Lobbyists presented nuclear as 1) “emission-free”; 2) needed to meet energy demands; and 3) safe. Their efforts were rewarded by Congress and President Biden, who signed the Inflation Reduction Act in August, 2022. The Energy Act contained billions of dollars for nuclear power, including funds to restart closed reactors.

While political leaders went along with lobbyist talking points, each point is misleading:

 “Emission-Free”. Reactors produce some carbon (e.g., carbon-14), albeit less than coal or gas plants. Preparing uranium for reactors, through mining, milling, fabrication, enrichment, and purification, requires much greenhouse gas. And the term “emission-free” ignores routine environmental emissions of radioactive gases and metals from reactors.

Needed to Meet Energy Demands. Reactors have never produced more than 22% of U.S. electricity, and now produces 19%. Conversely, renewable sources produce 25%, a number that grows sharply each year. Given the extremely long time needed to build new reactors and the aging of the current fleet, renewables are much better poised to meet future needs.

Safe. Reactors generate over 100 radioactive isotopes – the same mix of chemicals only created in nuclear weapons explosions. Each can cause cancer, and is especially hazardous to infants and children. Most is contained as high-level waste at each plant, but some is routinely released into the environment, and can enter human bodies through breathing, food, and water.

Any possibility of bringing Palisades back to life would not have happened without massive government bailouts. In mid-2023, Michigan legislators provided $150 million towards restarting the reactor, and designated another $150 million just last month. This $300 million is contingent on the $1.52 billion pledge by the Energy Department under the Inflation Reduction Act, which in turn is contingent on the reactor restarting. Some believe that the eventual amount for a Palisades restart is upwards of $8 billion.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission must go through a review process before making any decision on Palisade’s future. While Holtec is requesting a Nuclear Regulatory Commission final decision by August 2025, legal challenges could delay, or even block, a second life for Palisades.

Regulations governing the NRC review are complex, but the definition of safety has been a point of contention for decades. Government officials have set “permissible” limits of routine emissions and environmental levels of toxic chemicals. Companies operating reactors must measure and publicly report these levels released and levels; if they are below “permissible” amounts – which they always are – officials pronounce reactors to be safe, and pose no threat to health, without conducting studies of local health.

Van Buren County, Michigan is the site of Palisades. Its population is about 75,000 – a number unchanged for decades – and consists of small towns and farming areas. The county is on Lake Michigan, making it a popular tourist site in the summer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website on mortality statistics includes each U.S. county, for each year from 1968 to 2023. In the period just before and after Palisades started operating, the Van Buren County cancer death rate was 8% below the U.S. However, in the most recently available period (since 2005), the county rate was 15% above the U.S. Thus, Van Buren has shifted from a low-cancer to a high-cancer county (see below). If the Van Buren rate had remained 8% below the U.S. after 1978, about 1,000 fewer cancer deaths would have occurred.

More importantly, the county’s cancer death rate for people who died by age 35 shifted from 39% below to 52% above the U.S. rate, a dramatic change. The fact that those most affected by radiation exposure during infancy and childhood raises a red flag – whether early-life exposure to radioactive emissions from Palisades posed harm to young residents of Van Buren County.

Palisades is being watched by nuclear reactor owners across the country; a re-start of Palisades may lead to attempts for similar actions. Already, reports have surfaced that re-start is being considered for several reactors recently closed permanently. Among these is the Duane Arnold reactor in Iowa. Another is reactor 1 at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, which shut in 2019. Constellation Energy, which owns the plant, has begun talks with state lawmakers about potential restart.

Three Mile Island is an important name in the U.S. nuclear power story. In 1979, reactor 2 (which only had been in operation for three months) suffered a meltdown that destroyed half of its core. Governor Dick Thornburgh recommended that pregnant women and young children evacuate the area. It took 15 years to ship the parts of the stricken reactor to permanent storage. Nuclear power was already skidding, but the meltdown only accelerated the skid.

The nuclear power industry has failed to live up to original expectations. Of the 1,200 reactors predicted by the Atomic Energy Commission during the Nixon Administration, only 131 ever opened. For years, it has been in decline, and has scrambled to find various ways to halt the fall. Its latest scheme is to try and bring closed reactors back to life – buoyed by large amounts of taxpayer dollars. The outcome remains to be seen, but it appears that Palisades will be a seminal point in the U.S. nuclear odyssey.

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