Palisades Nuclear Plant is located in Covert, Michigan approximately 5 miles south of South Haven, Michigan.  The Combustion Engineering PWR is operated and owned by Entergy Nuclear, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Entergy Corp.  The plant is licensed to operate until March 24, 2031.

The ISFSI for Palisades began accepting SNF in 1992 pursuant to a general license.  The ISFSI is located approximately 500 feet northeast of the reactor building and outside the plant’s security perimeter (just off the left side of the above plant photo).  However, the two concrete storage pads (one constructed in 1992 and the second constructed in 2003) are located within its own security fences (only one is shown in the two aerial photos). The first 18 casks used at the ISFSI (storing 432 SNF assemblies) were manufactured by BNFS — the Fuel Solutions cask system and the VSC-24 canister type.  The next 11 casks used (storing 352 SNF fuel assemblies) were manufactured by Transnuclear — the NUHOMS cask system and the 32PT canister type.  In 2008 Entergy began using the Transnuclear NUHOMS casks system and the 24PTH canister type at Palisades, and as of end of 2011 there were 13 casks storing 312 SNF assemblies.  Collectively, as of the end of 2011 there were 1,096 SNF assemblies stored in 42 dry casks (only 19 casks are shown in two aerial photos).  As of the end of 2010, there was 2,540 metric tons of SNF stored at the three nuclear power plant sites located in the State of Michigan — DC Cook, Fermi and Palisades.