Van Buren County is a rural redoubt in southwestern Michigan, a quiet corner of a swing state. Pillow soft sand dunes shift and shape along the shores of Lake Michigan. And the county seat – Paw Paw – is named after a quintessentially Midwestern fruit.

"It is a beautiful natural environment with gorgeous sand dunes that you don't see in other parts of the world," says Daywi Cook, whose family has lived in this area for five generations. "A lot of folks like to live here because of the solitude."

Covert Township's tranquility seems to belie its place as the vanguard to a potential nuclear transformation. The Van Buren County township has been home to the Palisades Nuclear Plant since 1971. The aging plant was decommissioned in 2022 but is being brought back into service through an over $

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