Palisades nuclear plant begins fuel loading into reactor vessel ahead of restart

Palisades nuclear power plant took a concrete step toward restart Sunday morning, when plant staff began loading fuel into the reactor vessel at the Covert, Mich., facility. The move placed Palisades in Mode 6—the refueling stage under the plant’s technical specifications—according to owner and operator Holtec International.

Fuel loading begins at Palisades

Plant staff kicked off fuel loading Sunday morning, confirming what Holtec International called a significant milestone in the Palisades restart effort. The company announced the development in a news release, noting that operations at the Covert, Michigan facility had formally entered Mode 6 under the plant’s technical specifications.

Mode 6 is the technical designation for the refueling stage. Reaching it means the plant has moved from preparation into active operational steps—a meaningful shift after years of work to bring Palisades back online.

Holtec has been working through the technical, licensing, and logistical requirements needed to move the plant from a shutdown state back toward active generation.

No safety or procedural irregularities were reported. Holtec confirmed the process is being carried out in accordance with established plant procedures.

Why fuel loading is starting now

Fuel loading isn’t optional—it’s a required procedural step before any nuclear reactor can return to power. Criticality, the controlled nuclear chain reaction that generates heat and ultimately electricity, can’t be achieved without first loading the fuel assemblies into the reactor core.

For Palisades, reaching this point reflects months—and in some respects years—of regulatory and operational groundwork. Holtec has been working through the technical, licensing, and logistical requirements needed to move the plant from a shutdown state back toward active generation. The transition to Mode 6 signals those preparations have reached a sufficient stage, with staff now doing hands-on work inside the reactor vessel itself.

Fuel loading doesn’t happen until a facility is ready—procedurally and technically—to do it safely. Sunday’s move confirms Palisades cleared that bar.

Reactor core composition and process details

The Palisades reactor core holds 204 fuel assemblies in total, including both fresh fuel and partially used fuel from the plant’s most recent operating cycles before it shut down in 2022.

Using a mix of new and previously irradiated fuel is standard practice. Partially used fuel still contains significant fissile material and can contribute meaningfully to a core’s energy output, so incorporating it alongside new fuel is routine reload planning. Holtec International stated the loading is being conducted in accordance with established plant procedures and technical specifications—language that signals the work follows a pre-approved sequence rather than improvised steps.

No irregularities were reported. That’s the expected outcome when procedures are followed correctly, though it’s worth noting given the high level of public and regulatory scrutiny this restart has attracted.

Background on Palisades and its restart effort

Palisades is a pressurized water reactor with a long operational history. It ran for decades before being shut down in May 2022, when its previous owner, Entergy, retired the plant. At the time, the closure looked permanent.

Then Holtec International entered the picture. The company—known primarily for its work in nuclear decommissioning and spent fuel storage—acquired Palisades with an explicit and unusual goal: restart it. Bringing a shuttered commercial reactor back online doesn’t happen often in the United States. The regulatory path is complex, the technical challenges are real, and the economics have historically made such efforts hard to justify.

The effort has also attracted federal interest. Palisades received a loan through the Department of Energy as part of broader US policy interest in preserving existing nuclear capacity—nuclear energy having gained renewed attention in policy circles as a low-carbon baseload power source. Completing fuel loading moves Palisades meaningfully closer to criticality, after which the plant would work toward power ascension testing and, eventually, a return to generating electricity for the grid.

What this means going forward

Fuel loading is a milestone, but one step in a longer sequence. After all 204 assemblies are loaded into the reactor vessel, the plant still needs to complete additional testing and operational stages before it can generate power.

Criticality comes next. Power ascension testing follows that, and each stage carries its own regulatory checkpoints and technical verifications. What Sunday’s development confirms is that Palisades is no longer in the preparation phase—the fuel is going into the reactor, and the timeline is moving forward even without publicly pinned dates.

For the broader US nuclear industry, Palisades remains a closely watched case. A successful restart could demonstrate a replicable path for other shuttered plants; challenges, if they emerge, will be instructive in their own right. Either way, the fuel loading that began Sunday morning marks a point of no return in the effort to bring this Michigan plant back to life.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.