The closure of a southwestern Michigan nuclear plant will most likely be an expensive one.

MLive reports that Entergy Corp, the current owner of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Van Buren County’s Covert Township near South Haven, told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2007 that they had set aside as decommissioning costs around $600 million. However, current estimates show a little over $380 million in the fund.

It’s unclear if this could pose a problem; for comparison, the Big Rock Point plant near Charlevoix had an estimated decommissioning cost of around $353 million in 2006. Entergy announced in early December that the Palisades plant, which has operated since the early 70’s, would be closed starting in 2018; around 600 employees will be affected.

It’s unclear if the closure will affect power availability in the region; part of the closure involves the cancellation of the power purchase agreement between Entergy and Consumer's Energy. 

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