The Department of Energy on Monday approved a nearly $57 million loan disbursement to help restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan, marking the Trump administration’s first financial stake in the nuclear revival effort.
The move came as a relief to nuclear advocates, who worried the funds would get tangled up in President Donald Trump’s on-and-off freeze of clean energy loans and grants. DOE’s disbursement is part of an existing $1.52 billion loan guarantee aimed at restoring the 800-megawatt facility, which, if successfully restarted, would be the first U.S. commercial nuclear reactor to resume operations after being shut down.
“It’s a normal type of disbursement. This isn’t a whole new loan,” said Adam Stein, director for nuclear innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, which advocates for nuclear power. “So it’s not a huge step forward. It’s more [that] the loan is progressing as intended.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that the loan is “yet another step toward advancing President Trump’s commitment to increase domestic energy production, bolster our security and lower costs for the American people.”
