March 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy said

on Wednesday it would loan Holtec International $1.52 billion to

help restart its Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan.

The Biden administration believes nuclear power is essential

in the fight against climate change and for its goals to

decarbonize the country's power grid by 2035 and the economy by

2050. Nuclear plants also offer some of the highest-paying union

jobs in the energy industry.

Earlier this year, the administration also agreed to provide

$1.1 billion in credit to keep PG&E Corp's ( PCG ) Diablo Canyon

nuclear power plant in operation in California.

Florida-based Holtec says it aims to bring online its 800

megawatts (MW) Palisades nuclear plant, which it has said would

employ more than 600 workers, along with its two small modular

reactor units (SMRs).

NuScale's SMR technology is the only one to have

received design certification from the U.S. nuclear power

regulator last year. But the company has faced cost and

subscription issues and had to shelve one of its SMR projects.

Holtec had originally bought Palisades in 2022 from Entergy ( ETR )

to decommission the plant as it struggled to compete

with natural gas-fired plants and renewable energy, but started

looking into reopening the shut reactor.

The company has also already signed long-term Power

Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with electric co-ops Wolverine Power

Cooperative and Hoosier Energy in Michigan, Illinois, and

Indiana.

Reuters in January reported that the company was in talks

for the loan from the DOE for the plant.