A nuclear fuel assembly that had tipped over was successfully retrieved from the soon-to-be-restarted Palisades nuclear reactor in Michigan but controversy over the restart has been escalated to Congress.
On Wednesday, owners of the Holtec International reactor said “technical ingenuity” would allow efforts to resume operations at the plant to continue.
“When we encounter a challenge, what matters is how we respond,” said Fadi Diya, Holtec's chief nuclear officer. “Our team approached this recovery with the same commitment to safety, technical rigour, and teamwork that has guided our work throughout the restart.”
The Palisades reactor, bought by Holtec after being decommissioned in 2022, has become synonymous with a US nuclear energy renaissance induced by the significant energy needs of artificial intelligence data centres.
Efforts to restart the reactor in Covert, Michigan, hit a snag in August, when, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), one of the fuel assemblies tipped over during fuelling.
The NRC said no radiation was released. However, it was another controversy linked to the Palisades reactor, which first went online in 1971.
In 2012, an NRC report warned about the work culture at the plant, where it said safety concerns were routinely dismissed. In 2016, security staff were placed on leave, which was then owned by Entergy, for failing to properly follow fire prevention protocol.
And in October 2025, a worker at Palisades fell off a refuelling bridge into a pool of water, though was not seriously injured.
Most recently, the NRC sent a letter to Holtec following an inspection that determined that although Palisades maintained a safety-conscious work environment overall, “a chilled work environment” existed in the supply chain and quality assurance departments.
“Employees in these two work departments are hesitant to raise safety concerns using all available avenues without fear of retaliation,” the NRC said.
Last week, Patrick O’Brien, Holtec's director of government affairs and communications, told The National that Holtec was “taking actions to address these issues and will continue our work to maintain and strengthen a healthy safety-conscious work environment”.
Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and expert adviser for the environmental advocacy group Don't Waste Michigan, has criticised how the Palisades restart is being handled.
“In the last four weeks, Palisades lost control and tipped a nuclear fuel bundle and couldn’t get it out, nine out of 15 licensed reactor operators failed their exam, and more than half of the people in their quality assurance and procurement departments feel they will be fired by management if they bring concerns forward,” he said, and yet “ironically … the NRC just gave them permission to begin loading fuel again!”
Mr Gundersen recently told The National he has escalated his concerns about the Palisades nuclear restart to US Democratic Senator Edward Markey, a long-time critic of the nuclear industry.
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has either ignored or rebuffed my safety concerns as an expert witness for the last three years,” Mr Gundersen's letter to Mr Markey reads.
“Simply put, restarting the 55-year-old Palisades reactor is unsafe. Holtec is a rookie with no nuclear operating experience and has been entrusted with an incredibly complex, never-before-attempted undertaking.”
Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has previously praised the Palisades restart efforts, however, and has shown no sign of reversing course.
Meanwhile, Holtec on Wednesday insisted that safety is a priority. “Palisades will resume operations when all required work is complete and all applicable federal requirements and industry standards are met,” a press release from the company said.