State Representative Pauline Wendzel has received an update on the effort to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant in Van Buren County.

Wendzel tells us she and a group of state lawmakers from all over Michigan took a tour of the site Monday. She was pleased to learn much progress has been made.

“They went into a lot of details on kind of all of these steps that they need to take,” Wendzel said. “They have a whole map there that’s the road to reopening and sort of all those things they have to pass. There’s just so much that goes into this, but they are on track is what we learned.”

Wendzel is chair of the House Energy Committee and a member of the bipartisan Nuclear Caucus. That also includes state Representative Joey Andrews, who was present at this week’s tour as well. Wendzel says the question of nuclear power is a bipartisan one because nuclear is clean, reliable, and job supporting. She’s excited to see the Palisades project moving full steam ahead.

“It’s incredible, absolutely incredible. And the whole world is watching us right now, not just the United States, but the world. This is the first time that a power plant, a nuclear power plant, will go offline and then reopen ever. So all eyes are kind of on us. It’s a little bit of pressure, but it’s also really exciting because we’re showing that it can be done.”

Once fully operational, Palisades will generate 800 megawatts of baseload power. That’s enough to serve more than 800,000 homes.

Wendzel says lawmakers were also briefed on plans to open two small modular reactors at the site in the coming years. She says those are safe and easier to operate.

The goal is to have Palisades back online late this year.