This week, NPR reported on the Department of Energy relaxing safety and environmental rules for some Small Modular Reactors or SMRs.
In a statement, Holtec International spokesperson Nick Culp said these changes won’t apply to the SMRs Holtec plans to install at Palisades by the early 2030s.
"Our current focus with respect to SMRs is advancing the SMR-300 through the NRC’s established licensing process," he said.
SMR-300s are the reactors Holtec plans to eventually use at Palisades.
Edwin Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists.
He said the new rules only apply to experimental reactors that are a part of the DOE's "Reactor Pilot Program."
“Holtec has started the process of applying to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for licenses for these reactors at Palisades with the express intent that they would be producing commercial power. So they don't, really don't qualify for this program.”
But Lyman added that similar changes could come to the regulatory body that oversees the plant.
“What's happening at DOE is really just a subset of major changes that the Trump administration has ordered across the entire system of nuclear regulation in the United States," Lyman said.
"That will undoubtedly affect the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well, and any facility that's being licensed by the NRC.”
Among other changes for experimental SMRs, the DOE relaxed rules related to radiation dose limits and protecting groundwater.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
