The US could restart a nuclear reactor for the first time as clean-energy demand surges
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Flippin’ the switch… one reactor at a time. Yesterday, private nuclear-tech company Holtec secured a $1.5B loan from the US Department of Energy to restart the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The plant was shut down in 2022 after struggling to compete against cheaper electricity-generating options like natural gas. Now Holtec plans to use the funds to refurbish the nuclear reactor and reopen it next fall. If the plans get approved, Palisades would be the first reactor in US history to be put back in use.
Power play: The US has 54 nuclear power plants, but output has stalled recently. Last year Georgia opened the first newly built US reactor in decades.
Grid locked: Nuclear power generates nearly a fifth of America’s electricity, while fossil fuels (mostly natural gas) power more than half.
The great nuclear-energy race… Nuclear power has been a hot topic as more countries look to meet climate goals. Nuclear energy is considered clean because it doesn’t produce carbon-dioxide emissions, unlike gas and coal. All nuclear plants are powered by “fission” reactions, but last year scientists made a huge breakthrough in nuclear fusion, which generates much more energy (experts say it could unlock “virtually limitless” carbon-free power). Now the US and China are racing to be the first to harness fusion tech at scale.
Old tech can keep the lights on… while new tech’s in the works. Electricity demand is forecast to grow at the fastest rate in decades, making it necessary to tap more clean-energy sources — including old-school nuclear power. Constellation Energy, which says it’s the US’s largest producer of carbon-free energy, announced plans this month to bring its Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania online by 2028. Global investments in clean-energy tech this year are on track to hit $2T, nearly twice the amount going to fossil fuels.