WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The first U.S. nuclear

plant to ever try reopening after undergoing preparations for

permanent closure is not fit to restart anytime soon because it

sidestepped important safety work for years before retirement, a

former official at the reactor said.

Power company Entergy ( ETR ) closed the Palisades reactor

in Michigan in 2022, after the plant generated electricity for

more than 50 years. Privately-held Holtec International bought

Palisades shortly after and has since secured a $1.52 billion

conditional U.S. loan guarantee to restart. Holtec seeks to open

the plant in about a year.

The fate of Palisades is closely watched by the nuclear

industry as at least two other shuttered plants, including a

unit at Constellation Energy's ( CEG ) Three Mile Island,

consider reopening.

The administration of President Joe Biden sees nuclear power

as a critical tool in the fight against climate change and

supports efforts to restart closed plants, delay retirements of

existing ones, and speed permitting for new projects.

"I'm pro-nuclear, but they selected the wrong horse to ride

to town on," said Alan Blind, who was engineering director at

the Palisades plant from 2006 to 2013 under Entergy ( ETR ).

Blind said the plant got exemptions from the U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, the nuclear safety regulator, allowing it

to fall short of safety design standards that more modern plants

must adhere to because it was nearing retirement.

Those safety standards include prevention of cooling systems

being clogged by the breakdown of insulation on pipes, defense

against earthquakes, and reduction of risks to fires, Blind

said, adding he had been monitoring the plants' exemption

requests since his retirement.

"I'm worried that the NRC will not insist that the generic

safety issues be the fixed before they allow Palisades to

restart," Blind told Reuters.

Scott Burnell, an NRC spokesperson, said the safety review

of Holtec's applications "will include examining how Holtec

plans to follow through on technical issues, such as what Mr.

Blind describes, that were unresolved when the plant shut down

in 2022."

"Those plans will be public to the greatest extent

possible," and the NRC will allow a restart only if Holtec meets

safety and environmental requirements. Burnell added NRC will

soon offer an opportunity to offer legal challenges to Holtec's

requests to restart, a standard procedure.

Holtec believes Palisades can restart in about a year within

the NRC's existing regulatory framework, said spokesperson Pat

O'Brien. "As part of the repowering, Palisades will undergo

extensive inspections, testing, maintenance, system and

equipment upgrades and modifications to ensure the continuation

of safe and reliable operation throughout the plant's extended

operational life," O'Brien said.

Entergy ( ETR ) supports the effort to re-open Palisades, said

spokesperson Mark Sullivan. He did comment on Blind's concerns

about safety standards at the plant.

Entergy ( ETR ) shut Palisades in May 2022, two weeks ahead of

schedule over a glitch with a control rod, despite a $6 billion

federal program to save nuclear plants suffering from rising

costs and competition from natural gas and renewable energy.

The Biden administration's Loan Programs Office at the

Department of Energy issued Holtec a conditional $1.52 billion

loan guarantee in March to restart Palisades.

The LPO referred questions to the NRC.