Incident pauses Palisades fuel loading; plant connected to switchyard

[Marlin]

Incident pauses Palisades fuel loading; plant connected to switchyard

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-09-25/article-8436/incident-pauses-palisades-fuel-loading-plant-connected-to-switchyard/

[Core Content]

Operator Holtec paused fuel loading at the Palisades nuclear plant after a previously used fuel assembly tilted inside the reactor vessel. Engineers are developing retrieval equipment and preparing a license amendment for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission while independent restart activities continue. Concurrently, workers reconnected the facility to the local 345-kilovolt switchyard in preparation for eventual grid synchronization.

An incident involving a fuel assembly has paused the fuel loading process at the Palisades power plant in Covert, Mich., operator Holtec has acknowledged.

Fuel loading began on August 30 as Palisades entered Mode 6, the refueling stage of the restart. The reactor core consists of 204 fuel assemblies that include new fuel and partially used fuel from the plant's most recent operating cycles.

During the fuel-loading activities, one previously used fuel assembly tilted from its upright position after it had been placed in the vessel. According to Holtec, the fuel-handling machine grapple was disengaged at this point. Staff notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission but determined that the incident did not trigger safety reporting requirements under NRC regulations.

Read the full article at ans.org:
https://www.ans.org/news/2026-09-25/article-8436/incident-pauses-palisades-fuel-loading-plant-connected-to-switchyard/