JUNE 26, 2026 LIVING ARCHIVES GROUNDCOVER NEWS 7 Fermi 2 nuclear power plant poses risks to a 62-mile radius with little reward CRAFT TIMES Washtenaw County — as well as the greater Detroit area — is within the fallout area of an aging nuclear power plant located on the shores of Lake Erie in Newport, Mich., 25 miles northeast of Toledo. Fermi 2 is a 1,198-Megawatt electrical boiling water nuclear reactor owned and operated by DTE Energy. It has been fully operational since January 23, 1988. Its license was recently renewed until 2045. Recent failures have raised safety concerns, especially in the long term since the plant was designed for only a 20year life span. With the surging availability of natural gas, wind and solar power and rising total costs (including environmental) of conventional energy sources, it is questionable whether it is even economically advantageous to continue operating the nuclear power plant — even more so when considering the risks assumed by the public. On Nov. 26, 2017, one of the plant’s two reactor recirculation pumps stopped working. Operators reduced power to 44 percent to repair the pump. Two days later, power went down to 41 percent. The pumps drive the recirculating water which cools the reactor core. (It was the failure of this system that caused the Fukushima plant in Japan to melt down following their massive earthquake in March, 2011.) “The issue was in the ground fault on the generator that supplies power to the reactor,” DTE spokesman John LIMA from last page two miles east of the proposed site. The health of his family and his neighbors was at risk. That was June 5. By June 6, he had formed the page which launched the grassroots campaign NUANCE: Neighbors United Against Noxious Consumers Energy. Parness shared, “I recorded my first 'Good Morning Garrick' video.” Parness has now posted over 12 video messages spoken directly to Garrick Rochow, the CEO of CE. “I gave him Austerberry said about Fermi 2. “It was like a short circuit. It doesn’t happen often.” James Sherman, co-chair of Citizens’ Resistance at Fermi Two (CRAFT), has a different take. “DTE says it’s an uncommon problem, but in the CRAFT Times, there are monthly listings of mishaps such as this, including frequent generator failures,” said Sherman. “And Fermi is so unnecessary as a source of energy production. This aging equipment is a clear and present danger to the community. A generator failure may be trivial during normal operation, but they serve as a last line of defense in emergency situations. Coupled with loss of grid power and a reactor overheat, a generator failure could spell game-over for Southeast Michigan.” The 50-year anniversary of the failure of the breeder-reactor Fermi 1, featured on the September 2017 cover of Michigan History and the subject of the book We Almost Lost Detroit, were reminders of the large numbers of people at risk. Fermi 2 is one example of what a recent study done by the R Street Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, calls “merchant nuclear power plants,” which means they sell more electricity outside of their area than inside. The 2017 study recommends that seven nuclear reactors in the United States retire early because of large capital expenses and the costs of transmitting the power to the destination market. It identified Fermi 2 as a plant whose the courtesy of one week to withdraw the project before I start dialing June 16.” Clearly CE didn’t know the fire power of the population in this neighborhood when they positioned this purchase agreement. Within two weeks 1500 members joined the NUANCE site and amplified the fight. Neighbors who had never met, and held opposing beliefs, all came together in each other’s barns, living rooms and online with open hearts on the growing NUANCE page. 150 citizens crowded into Lima large operating, maintenance and transmission costs — coupled with a competitive energy market — make it ripe for closure. DTE could buy power at less than what it costs to produce it at Fermi 2. There are known health risks to those living near a reactor. The Dutch Ministry of Public Health has mailed potassium iodide (KI) tablets to three million people living near nuclear reactors. The pills were sent to all children under the age of 18 who live within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of a reactor, and all people within 20 kilometers (12 miles). If a reactor releases radiation, everyone will be given a notification to take their KI tablets, which contain so much stable iodine that the thyroid does not take up more, stable or radioactive. Belgium distributed KI tablets to its entire population because they all live within 100 kilometers of a reactor. The State of Michigan and federal government told our area that the tablet possession should be voluntary, and only within a 10-mile radius. The policies of Belgium and the Netherlands are closer to the American Thyroid Association’s position that everyone within 50 miles should have the tablets on-hand to saturate the thyroid and prevent it from taking up radioactive iodine in the event of an accident. Children are the most vulnerable to thyroid cancer, as proven after Chernobyl and Fukushima. However, the tablets do not protect against other radioactive substances, like cesium or plutonium, which affect other organs. Over 60 epidemiological studies worldwide have confirmed that Township’s emergency meeting on Friday June 12. All approved when Township Supervisor Bill VanRiper announced a 12-month moratorium to temporarily halt permitting, considering or approving power generating facilities in the township. The relief was palpable but not impenetrable. The efforts continued. On June 19, Parness called an emergency summit for elected officials, environmental lawyers and some press to gather at his dining room table. 23 participants from township, Originally published in the January 2018 edition of Groundcover News. children living near nuclear reactors have almost a 70 percent increased likelihood of developing leukemia. In Germany, a 2008 study commissioned by the government found a 60 percent increase in all cancers and 120 percent increase in leukemias among children under five years old who lived with five km (3.1 miles) of an operating reactor. After the German study was released, governments in France, Switzerland, and Britain all did their own studies. While the numbers weren’t as shocking as Germany’s, all the studies showed elevated numbers near nuclear reactors. The United States was doing its own study, and then cancelled it, claiming lack of funds to finish it. For more information on the Fermi 2 plant and its public risks, visit: www. shutdownfermi.org/ city and state level shared strategies and plans with legal counsel from the Sierra Club and The Great Lakes Environmental Legal Center. Now the fight had teeth. These leaders gather as an emergency legal and regulatory committee with key elected officials from all across the region and gathered for their second official meeting on June 23. Parness posted, “This amazing group headed up by Kate Henson, the Mayor see LIMA page 15
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