Inspections and tests are performed routinely as a requirement for maintaining that license. Periodic training sessions keep operators familiar with new or changed regulations and procedures. A number of safety features are built into Palisades. It is designed to protect the environment from radiation release. As in other nuclear plants, the primary cooling system has a backup system, and monitoring devices are placed around the plant.
Every system related to stopping the nuclear reaction has at least one backup.
The Natural Environment Palisades employees conduct monthly monitoring of the air, lake water, fish, crops and milk supplies in the surrounding area to test for radioactivity. The unique sand dune environment of the Palisades site provides shelter for the Pitcher's thistle, a plant on federal and state threatened species lists. Its presence was determined in a Consumers Energy inventory of plant and animal life on the Palisades site. The plant grows only in Great Lakes sand dunes and is fairly common, but human intrusion on the dunes threatens its survival. Consumers Energy will retain ownership of Palisades, the electricity it produces and the spent fuel stored on site.