Palisades Opponents Pursue Federal Lawsuit Over Restart Of Nuclear Plant On Lake Michigan Shoreline

Michigan Advance

November 21, 2025

A trio of organizations opposing the restart of a nuclear plant off the coast of Lake Michigan filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this week against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the plant’s operator, Holtec.

Filing in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, the groups Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, and Michigan Safe Energy Future argue that the plant, which was previously under decommissioning status, is legally barred from resuming operations.

By granting Holtec an exemption from those regulations the three groups argue the commission violated the Atomic Energy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the commission’s own regulations. They asked the court to find the commission’s decision in violation of the law, and to bar the commission from approving Holtec’s exemption request.

“This lawsuit alleges that the [commission] and Holtec didn’t just bend the regulations. They both broke the law to resurrect a reactor that was fifty plus years old, poorly maintained and could not compete in the open market. Palisades is not needed, way too expensive even with massive public subsidies, and unsafe,” Wallace Taylor, co-counsel for the groups bringing the suit said.

Prema Chandrathil, a public affairs officer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the body does not comment on ongoing litigation.

However, Chandrathil reiterated that the commission has been conducting “methodical, thorough and independent reviews of licensing actions and conducting real-time inspections of the plant’s maintenance, testing and repairs of systems and components required for plant startup.”

“The plant can only startup when this work is completed and the [commission] determines that plant systems, components and programs meet federal requirements,” Chandrathil said.

While the organizations filing the suit have raised several concerns about the conditions of the plant and the safety of a restart, Patrick O’Brien, Holtec’s director of government affairs and communications, said the commission’s approval to reauthorize operations at the plant “followed a rigorous, independent review under the agency’s existing regulatory framework.”

“As we move toward the plant’s historic restart, our top priority is ensuring the plant is prepared to return to long-term safe and reliable generation,” O’Brien said.

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