COVERT, MI (WHTC) - A scheduled refueling and maintenance outage at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant outside of Covert ended yesterday morning. Officials with plant operator Entergy say that, during the nearly 56-day shutdown, 64 used fuel assemblies were removed from the reactor vessel and replaced, along with other projects such as inspecting the vessel and two low-pressure turbines. The outage may have been extended when a broken piece of metal from an impeller blade was spotted lodged inside of the reactor. It apparently cannot be take out and plant officials claim it poses no safety hazard; on-site federal inspectors are monitoring the matter.