Opponents of a plan to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant are disappointed a federal panel has denied a full hearing on petitions challenging the plan.

Just this week, it was announced Palisades owner Holtec International is getting another $47 million from the federal government to restart the facility. It’s the third installment of a $1.5 billion loan package from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Palisades was decommissioned in 2022 after more than 50 years of operation. The plant in Van Buren County is expected to supply enough power to serve about 800,000 homes once back online. However, environmental and Indigenous groups are voicing frustration after their request for a full hearing was denied.

Kevin Kamps of the non-profit Beyond Nuclear is among those in opposition. He says restarting Palisades is not a good idea.

“A recent analysis by Dave Lochbaum, who is retired from the Nuclear Safety Program at Union of Concerned Scientists, placed Palisades at something like 84th out of 105 reactors in the country,” Kamps said. “So his analysis was, they’re more like in the bottom rung of the industry, actually.”

Holtec says before its 2022 shutdown, Palisades was ranked in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s highest safety category and was a top-performing plant in the industry.

Palisades is set to reopen in October, becoming the first U.S. nuclear plant to restart after being decommissioned.

Earlier this month, a three-judge panel for the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board denied the requested hearing challenging plans to restart Palisades in a two to one vote. Beyond Nuclear was one of the petitioners.