Due to the fuel assembly, refueling has been suspended at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.

Restart of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant (Palisades), which was planned for early 2026, has been further delayed due to safety and equipment issues, announced by the plant owner, Holtec International, as reported by News Channel

The insertion of nuclear fuel into the reactor was temporarily halted following an incident that occurred on August 30, 2026: during the refueling process, one vertical fuel assembly tilted inside the reactor vessel. The fuel assembly remains in the reactor vessel, and its removal is awaited, while the engineering division of Holtec is currently developing specialized equipment for the safe extraction of the assembly and its transport back to the spent fuel pool. In addition, the company is preparing a License Amendment Request to be submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for approval of the methodology of the extraction procedure itself. According to a Holtec spokesperson, fuel loading will resume only after this problem is fully resolved.

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting an investigation into this incident. Preliminary NRC findings have confirmed that there was no radiation release during the incident and that there was no impact on workers' health and safety.

This is the second recorded incident at the facility during restart preparations. In October of the previous year, a subcontractor fell into the water in the reactor vessel, after which he was decontaminated, briefly hospitalized, and soon returned to work.

However, this is not an incident like the well-known incident at Temelin in the early 2000s, when Vestinghaus first attempted to install its fuel assemblies in a VVER-design reactor, and when bending and even jamming of the fuel assemblies occurred. That case actually demonstrated most directly the complexity of replacing the fuel supplier and the fuel assemblies, and Vestinghaus needed almost twenty years to master the fuel-assembly technology for Russian reactors.

Moreover, the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is a 50-year-old facility whose attempt to refurbish and return to service is considered the first of its kind in the history of the American nuclear industry.

S.A.