Palisades Steam Generators: Enviro Coalition Reply to NRC & Holtec Answers

[Photo, from the top looking down, of a steam generator, showing the exceedingly thin-walled tubes]

On July 18, 2025, the environmental coalition resisting the unprecedented restart of the closed Palisades reactor, filed its REPLY with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB). The REPLY rebutted attacks contained in July 11th NRC Staff and Holtec ANSWERS to the coalition’s petition to intervene, and request for hearing, filed June 16, 2025. The petition and request focused on Holtec’s License Amendment Request (LAR) to NRC for band-aid fixes on Palisades’ severely degraded steam generator tubes, a self-inflicted wound by a company that has never operated a reactor.

The coalition includes Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago, and Three Mile Island Alert of Pennsylvania. The coalition’s legal counsel are Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH, and Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, IA. Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen serves as the coalition’s expert witness on nuclear power safety issues such as the steam generators.

On January 14, 2025, an NRC staffer admitted that Holtec had neglected to perform vital safety maintenance on the steam generators, from mid-2022 to mid-2024. Neglecting to implement a needed wet layup, corrosive chemicals caused cracking on both the inside and outside of the exceedingly thin steam generator tubes. Arnie Gundersen had warned for many months that wet layup was vitally needed on the steam generators, if Palisades was to ever operate again.

A cascading failure of enough steam generator tubes, all at once, can lead to a reactor core meltdown, and consequent release of catastrophic amounts of hazardous radioactivity into the environment. Even the failure of a single tube would release a certain amount of hazardous radioactivity into the environment.

The ASLB will now decide whether or not to hold oral argument pre-hearings, to determine whether the coalition’s contention is worthy of a hearing on the merits.

If and when the ASLB rules against the coalition, we will appeal to the NRC Commissioners. If they also rule against us, we will appeal to the federal courts.