The company said in a statement that the acquisition was given the green light by US regulators with a licence transfer approval in December 2021.
Holtec said it will now proceed with decommissioning at Palisades, the first task being the planned removal of spent nuclear fuel.
The Palisades decommissioning project is expected to be completed in about 19 years, but the transfer of spent fuel from wet to dry storage will be finished by 2025.
Holtec said that the Big Rock Point nuclear plant, near Charlevoix, Michigan, was decommissioned in the early 2000s and used fuel remains at the site.
All used fuel will be moved to its Hi-Store interim storage facility in New Mexico, which is undergoing the final stage of licensing review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The company said the deployment of Holtec’s SMR-160 small modular reactor is among the options being considered for repurposing the Palisades and Big Rock Point sites. The SMR is expected to be ready for service in around 2030.
Apart from Palisades and Big Rock Point, Holtec’s decommissioning fleet includes the single-unit Oyster Creek and Pilgrim plants, and three units at Indian Point
