The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant near South Haven is back in service after 33 days of refueling and maintenance.
The plant started at 25 percent power this morning and will increase output over the next several days, said spokesman Mark Savage.
Workers added 64 new fuel assemblies to the reactor while conducting inspections and equipment replacements.
The facility at 27780 Blue Star High in Covert Township is owned by Entergy and provides about 18 percent of the power for Consumers Energy. It began operation in 1971. Its license expires in 2031.
Parts of Allegan County are within a 10-mile-radius Emergency Planning Zone — the prime area where people could be effected by a radiation leak from the plant and evacuations would be mostly likely in an emergency.
A total of 1,200 additional supplemental workers assisted the plant’s staff in completing the recent work safely, Savage said.
The plant was recently listed among the five lowest-performing plants of the nation’s 104 commercial reactors.
The facility’s status was downgraded in February as the result of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigation of an electrical fault at the site in September. The incident resulted in a reactor trip and the loss of half of the control room indicators. Radioactive steam was released into the environment, though the radiation levels were within acceptable levels.
The plant started at 25 percent power this morning and will increase output over the next several days, said spokesman Mark Savage.
Workers added 64 new fuel assemblies to the reactor while conducting inspections and equipment replacements.
The facility at 27780 Blue Star High in Covert Township is owned by Entergy and provides about 18 percent of the power for Consumers Energy. It began operation in 1971. Its license expires in 2031.
Parts of Allegan County are within a 10-mile-radius Emergency Planning Zone — the prime area where people could be effected by a radiation leak from the plant and evacuations would be mostly likely in an emergency.
A total of 1,200 additional supplemental workers assisted the plant’s staff in completing the recent work safely, Savage said.
The plant was recently listed among the five lowest-performing plants of the nation’s 104 commercial reactors.
The facility’s status was downgraded in February as the result of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigation of an electrical fault at the site in September. The incident resulted in a reactor trip and the loss of half of the control room indicators. Radioactive steam was released into the environment, though the radiation levels were within acceptable levels.
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