Palisades nuclear power plant
Palisades nuclear power plant is a nuclear site in United States with 4 units on record. None is currently operating.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit Unit 1 Repower | Under construction | PWR | CE (2-loop) DRYAMB | 800 | 2026 |
| Unit 1 | Retired | PWR | CE 2LP (DRYAMB) | 850 | 1971 |
| Unit 2 | Pre-construction | - | SMR-300 | 300 | 2030 |
| Unit 3 | Pre-construction | - | SMR-300 | 300 | 2030 |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Palisades nuclear power plant Unit 1 Repower Under construction
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CE (2-loop) DRYAMB |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 800MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Combustion Engineering |
| Owner | Holtec International100% |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jan 2026 |
|---|
Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Palisades nuclear power plant Unit 1 Repower
Palisades nuclear power plant 1 Retired
GNPT records commercial operation as 1 January 1971 and permanent shutdown as 1 May 2022, which are placeholders (a bare year and a bare month). The IAEA PRIS record, as published in the World Nuclear Association database, gives commercial operation on 31 December 1971, two days after grid connection on 29 December 1971, and permanent shutdown on 20 May 2022.
commercial_operation:
1971-01-01 → 1971-12-31
· World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Reactor Database, Palisades (data credited to IAEA PRIS)
· verified 2026-10-28
GNPT records commercial operation as 1 January 1971 and permanent shutdown as 1 May 2022, which are placeholders (a bare year and a bare month). The IAEA PRIS record, as published in the World Nuclear Association database, gives commercial operation on 31 December 1971, two days after grid connection on 29 December 1971, and permanent shutdown on 20 May 2022.
permanent_shutdown:
2022-05-01 → 2022-05-20
· World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Reactor Database, Palisades (data credited to IAEA PRIS)
· verified 2026-10-28
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Combustion Engineering 2-loop |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 850MW |
| Net capacity | 805MW |
| Thermal output | 2,565MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Combustion Engineering |
| Owner | Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc100% |
| Operator | Entergy Nuclear Operations |
| Construction start | 12 Mar 1967 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 22 May 1971 |
| Grid connection | 29 Dec 1971 |
| Commercial operation | 31 Dec 1971 |
| Permanent shutdown | 20 May 2022 |
Palisades nuclear power plant 2 Pre-construction
| Reactor type | small modular reactor |
|---|---|
| Model | SMR-300 |
| Size class | Small |
| Gross capacity | 300MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | not established |
| NSSS vendor | Holtec International |
| Owner | Holtec International100% |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jan 2030 |
|---|
Palisades nuclear power plant 3 Pre-construction
| Reactor type | small modular reactor |
|---|---|
| Model | SMR-300 |
| Size class | Small |
| Gross capacity | 300MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | not established |
| NSSS vendor | Holtec International |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jan 2030 |
|---|
Palisades nuclear power plant in context
The one unit with both construction and grid dates on record took 4.8 years from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1970s is 5.4 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Donald C Cook nuclear power plant (44 km), Dresden nuclear power plant (192 km) and Braidwood nuclear power plant (199 km).
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1967 | 1971 | 4.8 | 5.4 (1970s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donald C Cook nuclear power plant | United States | 44 km | 2.4 |
| Dresden nuclear power plant | United States | 192 km | 1.9 |
| Braidwood nuclear power plant | United States | 199 km | 2.5 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Palisades nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | Michigan, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42.3230, -86.3146 |
| Elevation | about 185 mabove sea level |
| Setting | On the shore of a large lake, 2.1 km from the water |
| Region | Northern America |
| Units by status | Under construction: 1 Retired: 1 Pre-construction: 2 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc Holtec International |
|---|---|
| Operators | Entergy Nuclear Operations |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data