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Risky Revival: How Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant could impact agriculture 

While state leaders champion the Palisades reopening as an energy solution, local farmers remain divided over the potential threats to their land and water.

by S. Nicole Lane, for Investigate Midwest, December 10, 2024

COVERT, Michigan — The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, long synonymous with safety lapses and regulatory oversight, is poised for an unprecedented comeback under Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s plan to reopen the shuttered plant by 2025 — the first attempt of its kind in U.S. history.

However, in this robust agricultural region, there are fears about how reopening a problematic plant could impact area farmers and the food they produce.

Approximately 6,362 farms are within 50 miles of Palisades. In Van Buren County alone, where the plant is located, there are 838 farms. Michigan’s southwestern corner, home to 80% of the state’s farms, is often called the “blueberry capital of the world.” 

“A leak (and) this 150-year-old farm is done,” said Bill Adams, who runs Adams Blueberry Farms in Hartford, Michigan, 16 miles south of the plant. “Why would they restart something that old and sitting this long?”

Opened in 1971, Palisades, which is located along Lake Michigan, once generated 5% of Michigan’s electricity, enough to power 800,000 homes. But a litany of mechanical issues plagued its operations for decades.

In 2013, the plant leaked 79 gallons of diluted radioactive water into Lake Michigan, forcing a five-week shutdown — its ninth closure in just two years. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The NRC spokesperson also said that each nuclear power plant has a Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program (REMP) that tracks radioactivity. 

But Kamps said that radioactive isotopes and waste products like cesium, strontium and tritium, which are byproducts of nuclear reactors, have been linked to cancer and have a lifespan of 300 years. “That’s how long you should worry about it in the food chain,” he said.  https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/12/10/risky-revival-how-michigans-palisades-nuclear-plant-could-impact-agriculture/

December 17, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA