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Philippines Fully Advances Feasibility Study for Restart of Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Recently, against the strategic backdrop of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s active promotion of the country's energy transition and nuclear power revival, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which has lain dormant for nearly four decades, has ushered in a new opportunity for restart. South Korean enterprises are comprehensively conducting technical and economic feasibility studies, marking the return of the country's nuclear power program, shelved for decades, to its historical starting point. The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was first built in the 1970s. In response to the severe oil crisis at the time, it was initiated by the government of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., with the site selected at Napot Point, Bataan Province.

2026-11-09

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant Restart: After Removing a Tilted Fuel Assembly, How Far Remains to Grid Connection?

At the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, Holtec manufactured a specialized lifting rig and transfer cask for a tilted fuel assembly. On October 21, the company confirmed that the assembly had been removed from the reactor pressure vessel and transferred to the spent fuel pool. On October 29, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright visited the plant, and Holtec's project update on the same day still listed fuel loading completion, testing, inspections, and operational readiness as return-to-service work. Palisades was shut down in 2022 and had entered the decommissioning pathway. This removal allowed the fuel loading project to continue, and also exposed a period in the restart plan that is easily underestimated—after equipment is brought back to condition...

2026-11-09

Philippines Explores Restarting Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Project

Recently, as the new Philippine government incorporates nuclear energy into the national development strategy agenda, whether the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which has been in storage for decades, can be restarted has attracted widespread attention in the international nuclear energy community. The plant is located in Nagbalayong Village, Morong Town, Bataan Province, Philippines. Having experienced a troubled history and been in storage for nearly forty years, it is now undergoing a new round of in-depth assessment of its technical condition and economic feasibility. Construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant began in July 1976, decided by the then Ferdinand Marcos government, which ultimately selected the import of a 621 MW pressurized water reactor unit from Westinghouse Electric Company...

2026-11-07

U.S. Energy Secretary Visits Palisades Nuclear Plant Restart Site

Recently, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright visited Holtec International's Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan to inspect on-site the restart progress of this 805-megawatt retired nuclear unit and announced that the U.S. nuclear energy revival has taken a key step forward. It is reported that this restart project has received support from a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee, a special appropriation from the Michigan state government, and large-scale investment from Holtec International. Kris Singh, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Holtec International, emphasized that...

2026-10-30

Successful Removal of Toppled Fuel Assembly at Palisades Nuclear Reactor in the United States

Holtec International, the owner of the Palisades nuclear reactor located in Covert, Michigan, announced on Wednesday that it had successfully removed the nuclear fuel assembly that had previously toppled during refueling through technological innovation, and stated that it would continue to advance the restart of the nuclear unit. Fadi Diya, Chief Nuclear Safety Officer of Holtec International, said the team consistently upheld safety standards and technical rigor in addressing this challenge. The Palisades nuclear reactor was originally commissioned in 1971, was acquired by Holtec International after its retirement in 2022, and now...

2026-10-24

U.S. Plans Massive Funding to Restart Three Decommissioned Nuclear Power Plants to Meet AI Computing Demand

Recently, the United States is experiencing an unprecedented wave of nuclear power restarts, with plans to revive three commercial nuclear power plants that have been shut down, in order to meet surging electricity demand and the computing power needs of large data centers. The three nuclear power plants are the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan, the Crane Clean Energy Center at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide up to $4.4 billion in loan guarantees to restore a total of 2.25...

2026-10-17

U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Visits Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant, Targeting Official Restart and Grid Connection in 2027

The Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently conducted an on-site inspection of Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant in Pennsylvania. As the core platform for the plant's restart plan, the renamed Crane Clean Energy Center is currently pushing forward engineering preparations at full speed, with the goal of officially restarting and connecting to the grid in 2027. Facing rapidly rising baseload power demand in Pennsylvania and across the entire Mid-Atlantic region, the restart project has secured more than $1 billion in federal dedicated investment and policy-based financial support. Three Mile Island Unit 1 was retired early in 2019 due to insufficient market economics under the impact of natural gas power generation at the time...

2026-10-11

South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Holds High-Level Talks with Vietnam: Deepening Nuclear Safety Regulatory Cooperation to Support Restart of Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Project

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of South Korea held talks with a high-level Vietnamese delegation on October 1, 2026, in the large conference room in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Choi Wonho, Chairman of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission of South Korea, Vu Hai Quan, Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Vietnam, and Nguyen Hoang Linh, Director General of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS), jointly attended the meeting, focusing on the systematic...

2026-10-01

Taiwan's Nuclear Safety Commission Completes Compliance Review of Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant "Restart Plan"

On September 24, 2026, the Nuclear Safety Commission of the Taiwan region of China officially completed and approved the review of the restart plan for the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant (the Third Nuclear Power Plant). The Nuclear Safety Commission (referred to as the NSC), Taiwan's nuclear safety regulatory body, officially announced the completion and approval of the review of the restart plan submitted by Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) for the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant (the Third Nuclear Power Plant). This move marks a key step for the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant units in the contest between decommissioning and shutdown versus evaluation for life extension. However, the NSC emphasized that this approval only represents recognition of the plan's content at the current stage. For the units to actually restart, they must still pass multiple stringent engineering self-inspections, on-site reviews, and statutory approval procedures. The NSC...

2026-09-30

Italian Parliament Votes to Approve Meloni Government's Nuclear Power Restart Plan

Italy's upper parliamentary chamber, the Senate (Senato della Repubblica), formally voted on Wednesday to approve the government's statutory plan to restart nuclear power generation, marking a substantive step back toward the nuclear energy camp nearly four decades after the country shut down all nuclear reactors within its borders in 1987 following an anti-nuclear referendum (Referendum) triggered by the Chernobyl accident. The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is vigorously promoting the deployment of Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs), aiming to break the historical ban through technological upgrades and a substantial increase in safety margins, provide stable clean energy for deep decarbonization of energy-intensive industries, and at the same time...

2026-09-24

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant Restart Suspended Due to Fuel Assembly Issue

The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan, encountered a problem during fuel loading operations, causing its ongoing restart process to be suspended. The 50-year-old nuclear power plant, located along the shore of Lake Michigan, had previously been planned to become the first decommissioned nuclear power plant in the United States to be restarted. Holtec, the operator of the nuclear power plant, confirmed that while loading radioactive fuel rods into the reactor, a fuel assembly unexpectedly tilted after being released by the handling device and became stuck in a non-vertical position. Due to this situation, the reactor is currently...

2026-09-23

Italy may restart nuclear power generation by 2035

Italian Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin stated that the Italian government does not rule out the possibility of restarting domestic nuclear power generation by 2035. If mass production of nuclear reactors begins by the end of this decade, their construction time could be shortened to three to four years. This might allow Italy to begin generating electricity in 2034 or 2035. The bill aims to establish the legal framework needed for Italy to build new nuclear reactors. Since the referendum held after the 1987 Chernobyl nuclear accident and the closure of the last nuclear power plants in 1990, Italy has consistently prohibited nuclear energy. However, geopolitical uncertain...

2026-09-20

Vietnam Seeks French CEA Support to Restart Nuclear Power Program

On the morning of September 11 local time, To Lam, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of Vietnam, who is on an official visit to France, led a high-level Vietnamese delegation to visit the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, CEA). During the visit, the CEA briefed To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation on France's core technology development. The CEA focuses on research in strategic fields such as nuclear energy, semiconductors, quantum technology, and artificial intelligence. To Lam stated that Vietnam is restarting its national nuclear power program, including the Ninh Thuan nuclear power project and the nuclear science and technology research center...

2026-09-12

Lower likelihood of restart for Belgium's Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors

According to a September 11 report by Le Soir, samples collected nearly two years ago from the reactor pressure vessels of Belgium's Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors indicate that the possibility of restarting these two nuclear reactors is extremely low. In the winter of 2024 to 2025, operator Engie successively took samples from the Doel 3 reactor pressure vessel and the Tihange 2 reactor pressure vessel. The sampling work was carried out at the request of the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) and the Belgian National Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials (NIRAS), which is responsible for radioactive waste management, with the aim of measuring in detail the radiation levels at different parts of the pressure vessels so as to classify and dispose of the related waste.

2026-09-13

Chubu Electric Power considers withdrawing Hamaoka nuclear plant restart review application

Chubu Electric Power Company (CEPCO) is considering withdrawing its restart review application for Units 3 and 4 of the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located in Omaezaki City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and it was previously revealed that seismic design data related to the restart review was suspected of falsifying "design basis ground motion" data, making the ground motion amplitude in the submitted materials lower than originally expected. On the morning of the 11th, Chubu Electric Power announced that it had received a report submitted by an investigation committee composed of external lawyers. The committee was commissioned by Chubu Electric Power to investigate the causes and process of the seismic design data issue at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. Chubu Electric Power President Shingo Hayashi and others plan to hold a press...

2026-09-11