Along the shores of Lake Michigan, activity has increased at the Palisades nuclear power plant, a facility that was officially shut down in 2022. The American company Holtec is preparing the plant for a potential restart, having invested around $1.5 billion—largely through a loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy—to modernize it and meet the safety standards set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Authority. Since early September 2026, the focus has been on loading nuclear fuel, a critical step in restarting the reactor. Once the fuel is in place, a series of tests and inspections will follow before the plant can be officially authorized to operate. However, Holtec has not yet announced a specific date for the restart. The reactor, with a capacity of about 800 megawatts, is expected to generate low-carbon electricity sufficient to power more than 800,000 homes. It could also help stabilize the electrical grid in Michigan. This potential restart is notable because it would be the first time in the U.S. that a nuclear reactor definitively shut down has been brought back online. The move reflects a growing global interest in nuclear power as a tool to reduce carbon emissions and achieve climate goals, such as carbon neutrality by 2050. In France, the situation is different. There is a nuclear plant that was previously closed—Fessenheim—that some might consider restarting. However, this is not feasible due to several reasons. The plant was shut down in 2020, and since then, many irreversible steps have been taken to prepare the site for its eventual dismantling. These steps make restarting the plant nearly impossible. Additionally, there is currently no legal framework in France that would allow the restart of a previously decommissioned plant. If Électricité de France (EDF) were to pursue a restart, it would be treated as a completely new installation from a regulatory and strategic standpoint. Instead of restarting Fessenheim, EDF is focusing on the complete dismantling of the plant, a project that was authorized in May 2026 and officially began in June of the same year. This is expected to be a massive undertaking, involving the removal and processing of 405,000 tons of materials based on their level of radioactivity. The project, which EDF plans to complete by 2048, will require an average of 300 workers per year and will cost around 1.4 billion euros. The company aims to use this project as a model to showcase its expertise in nuclear decommissioning.