Fuel assembly DD41 has been sitting at roughly a 30-degree angle inside the reactor vessel at the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Michigan, since it was released by the refueling machine, and the plant’s operator has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to pull it out with equipment built for the job. The request was filed Sept. 30, and the NRC announced on Oct. 6 that it is reviewing it.
Nothing in the filing proposes a change to the plant’s technical specifications. The ask is narrower and stranger: approval of a one-off lifting rig, a shielded canister and a rail path out of containment, all designed around a single damaged assembly.
Assembly DD41 in Core Location H-1
According to the license amendment request, filed by Palisades Energy under Docket No. 50-255, the assembly “was placed into core location H-1 and tilted over after being released by the refueling machine.” Its lower tie plate remains in H-1 while the upper tie plate leans against the core shroud on the opposite side of the core. Visual inspections concluded that the damage prevents ordinary retrieval, and the assembly is under continuous camera surveillance. The filing says the fuel rods retained their integrity and no other assemblies were affected, a conclusion the NRC’s own Oct. 6 announcement echoes: the agency says it has verified that the rods in the tilted assembly remain intact and safe while its review continues.
The incident dates to Aug. 30, as the plant entered Mode 6 to begin refueling, according to Nuclear Engineering International. The mechanical grapple had already disengaged when the previously used assembly shifted into its tilted position. Holtec did not publicly disclose the event until late September, weeks afterward and after media inquiries, The National reported, citing a company statement that there was no radiological release and no workers or members of the public were affected.
The Fuel Movement Device and Its Limits
The proposed method has four parts. A custom Fuel Movement Device would engage the assembly, hung from the containment polar crane on chain falls. A Fuel Transfer Canister would enclose it during the move. A rail transfer system would carry the canister through the equipment hatch, and the fuel pool building crane would set it down in the spent fuel pool’s cask laydown area.
The filing sets hard limits for the lift. The fuel angle must not exceed 40 degrees and the pull force on the device’s lifting bail must not exceed 1,800 pounds-force. The loaded canister weighs about 49,000 pounds, so the device is treated as a heavy load under NRC guidance NUREG-0612, and the stress analysis reports all safety factors above 1.0. Total time out of water is capped at 133 hours, with calculated cladding temperatures not exceeding 517 degrees Fahrenheit against a 752-degree criterion.
Dose Rates and the Worst-Case Assumption
Because the assembly’s condition is uncertain, the safety case assumes the worst. The accident analysis conservatively treats every fuel rod in DD41 as failed, since a rod-failure analysis was “not feasible” for a damaged assembly. Under that assumption, the filing states, control room, exclusion area boundary and low population zone doses stay within regulatory limits. Estimated dose rates on the canister are about 110 millirem per hour at side contact, about 60 millirem per hour at one foot and under 500 millirem per hour at contact with either end. The request touches two sections of the plant’s safety analysis report, 9.11 on fuel handling and storage and 14.19 on the fuel handling accident.
Three bounding horizontal drop cases were also analyzed, and the canister, the filing says, maintains its overall structural configuration in each, with seismic calculations showing it stable against overturning.
Emergency Timing and a Review Still Open
The company asked for emergency processing, with approval by Oct. 2, 2026, two days after filing. That date has passed, and the NRC’s 2026 news-release list shows no later Palisades announcement than the Oct. 6 notice that the review is open, with an opportunity for public comment; the release does not state a comment deadline.
The delay matters well beyond one assembly. Palisades, which ceased operations in May 2022 and was defueled the following month, won NRC approval in 2025 to return to an operating licensing basis, as World Nuclear News reported in July 2025, and had been expected to run at the start of 2026. Holtec has now put the restart off, saying progress to later operating modes remains subject to satisfactory resolution of the affected assembly.
The request itself spells out the stakes. A delay in approval, the letter says, “would result in a delay in the resumption of activities necessary to reach the plant conditions required to restore the plant to power operation.”
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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