Joe Biden’s administration will present a $1.5 billion loan to restart a nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, officers introduced Wednesday.

Holtec International acquired the 800-megawatt Palisades plant in 2022 with plans to dismantle it. But now the emphasis is on restarting it by late 2025, following help from the state of Michigan and the Biden administration.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer stated it might be the first nuclear power plant to be reopened within the US. It nonetheless faces hurdles, together with inspections, testing and the blessing of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, often known as the NRC.

“Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon-free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly,” stated Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor.

The Palisades plant is alongside Lake Michigan, a two-hour drive from Chicago. A Michigan utility, CMS Energy, owned it from 1971 till the plant was bought to Louisiana-based utility Entergy in 2007. It was shut down in 2022.

Holtec stated it has long-term commitments so removed from two electrical cooperatives to purchase power from the plant.

“The repowering of the Palisades will restore safe, around-the-clock generation to hundreds of thousands of households, businesses and manufacturers,” stated Kris Singh, Holtec president and chief government.

Critics, nevertheless, have emerged. A coalition opposed to restarting what it derisively calls a “zombie reactor” has requested a listening to on the NRC.

Holtec spokesman Patrick O’Brien stated it might take 4 to 5 months to finalise the monetary take care of the federal government.

“It is a loan we have to pay back,” he stated.

Nuclear vitality is within the highlight. Thirty-four nations, together with the US, final week pledged to use it to cut back reliance on fossil fuels. In California, regulators in December stated the Diablo Canyon plant may function by way of 2030 as an alternative of 2025 to guard in opposition to blackouts because the state shifts towards renewable power sources. Owner Pacific Gas & Electric stated federal help helped it repay a state loan.

“There is more enthusiasm toward nuclear power — in Congress, in the industry and also internationally,” stated Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor on the University of Southern California who has inspected nuclear crops all over the world.

But restarting a plant, he stated, will not be simple.

“It puts the onus and burden on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Holtec to double down on efforts to make sure this plant is safe enough and all the safety measures are intact,” Meshkati stated of Palisades.