Palisades Power Plant returns to service following scheduled refueling, maintenance outage

Entergy’s Palisades Power Plant in Covert, Mich., recently returned to service following the completion of a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage that began Oct. 28.

“We are committed to continuing to provide safe, secure and reliable electricity to area families and businesses through the plant’s permanent closure in 2022,” Charlie Arnone, site vice president and Entergy’s top official at Palisades, said. “Entergy continues to make the investments needed for the plant, as evidenced by the $87 million of work performed during this outage.”

During the scheduled outage, workers replaced approximately one-third of the fuel in the reactor and inspected and upgraded pipes, pumps, electrical components, and other equipment.

“Around 1,900 professionals, including nearly 1,300 specialist contractors, performed hundreds of activities that can only occur while the plant is offline,” Arnone said. “Hundreds of thousands of person-hours of work were performed over the last several weeks to prepare Palisades for safe and continuous operation over the next 3 ½ years. Thanks to the pride, professionalism and hard work of our team, Palisades is recognized as a top performer within the nuclear power industry and ranks in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest safety category.”

The recently completed scheduled outage was the second-to-last refueling outage at Palisades before the plant permanently retires in the spring of 2022.