Despite a string of safety incidents, the shuttered Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan might be restarted before the end of this year, according to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Mr Wright visited the reactor owned by Holtec International that was shut down in 2022 but is now in the process of restarting.
The plant has become a symbol for the nuclear energy sector in the US, which is experiencing something of a renaissance due in part to the heavy electricity needs of data centres.
On Thursday, the US Energy Secretary said that Palisades "would be back running before the end of this year" while speaking with reporters during a tour of the reactor.
"It will be 800MW of additional, reliable and secure energy," he added, concluding the news conference by taking shots at the Democratic Party.
"This is a reversal of the stuff Democrats did for years, doing everything they can to stand in the way of energy production and the contrast could not be more stark."
But the restart has its critics. Kevin Kamps, executive director for environmental advocacy group Don't Waste Michigan, hit back shortly after Mr Wright's visit to Palisades.
"Once they restart this zombie reactor, all bets are off," Mr Kamps said, calling the reactor by a name used by critics of restarting decommissioned nuclear plants.
"They are playing radioactive Russian roulette on the Lake Michigan shore, wasting billions of dollars of state and federal taxpayer money to do so, and they are risking a Chornobyl- or Fukushima-scale catastrophe, putting in peril the Great Lakes, the Great Lakes State, and beyond."
Michael Keegan, another director of Don’t Waste Michigan, said the "public relations slathering of icing on this rancid cake is a whitewash.
Mr Wright's visit follows an incident that cemented the concerns of those who have voiced opposition to the plant's restart.
In September, a nuclear fuel assembly was tipped during a refuelling process at the plant. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said no radiation had been released.
Shortly after workers successfully retrieved the tipped nuclear fuel assembly, Holtec described the recovery as a "remarkable demonstration of technical ingenuity and precision manufacturing".
Still, it was yet another blemish on the plant's record.
In 2012, an NRC report warned about the work culture at the plant, where it said safety concerns were routinely dismissed. In 2016, when the plant was owned by Entergy, security staff were placed on leave for failing to properly follow fire prevention protocol.
And in October 2025, a worker at Palisades fell off a refuelling bridge into a pool of water, though was not seriously injured.
The NRC sent a letter to Holtec this month following an inspection that determined that although Palisades maintained a safety-conscious work environment overall, “a chilled work environment” existed in the supply chain and quality assurance departments.
“Employees in these two work departments are hesitant to raise safety concerns using all available avenues without fear of retaliation,” the NRC said.
Patrick O’Brien, Holtec's director of government affairs and communications, previously told The National that Holtec was “taking actions to address these issues and will continue our work to maintain and strengthen a healthy safety-conscious work environment”.
He also said that safety was of the utmost priority, adding that the reactor would "return to service when all required work is complete and all federal requirements and industry standards are met".
