Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station

Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station
The Fermi Station (NRC image)
Official name	Fermi Power Plant
Country	United States
Location	Frenchtown Charter Township, Monroe County, Michigan
Coordinates	41°57′46″N 83°15′27″W / 41.96278°N 83.25750°W / 41.96278; -83.25750
Status	Operational
Construction began	Unit 1: August 8, 1956 Unit 2: September 26, 1972
Commission date	Unit 1: August 7, 1966 Unit 2: January 23, 1988
Decommission date	Unit 1: November 29, 1972
Construction cost	$6.110 billion (2007 USD)[1]
Owner(s)	DTE Energy
Operator(s)	DTE Energy
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	BWR/4
Reactor supplier	General Electric
Cooling towers	2 × Natural Draft
Cooling source	Lake Erie
Thermal capacity	1 × 3486 MWth
Power generation
Units operational	1 × 1202 MW
Make and model	Unit 1: Liquid Metal FBRTooltip Fast Breeder Reactor Unit 2: BWR/4 (Mark 1)
Units planned	1 × 1520 MW ESBWR
Units decommissioned	1 × 61 MW Liquid Metal FBRTooltip Fast Breeder Reactor
Nameplate capacity	1150 MW
Capacity factor	99.01% (2019) 76.3% (lifetime, excluding Unit 1)
Annual net output	9,369 GWh (2021)
External links
Website	Fermi 2 Power Plant
Commons	Related media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe, in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan on approximately 1,000 acres (400 ha). All units of the plant are operated by the DTE Energy Electric Company and owned (100 percent) by parent company DTE Energy. It is approximately halfway between Detroit, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio. It is also visible from parts of Amherstburg and Colchester, Ontario as well as on the shore of Lake Erie in Ottawa County, Ohio. Two units have been constructed on this site. The first unit's construction started on August 4, 1956 and reached initial criticality on August 23, 1963, and the second unit received its construction permit on September 26, 1972. It reached criticality (head on) on June 21, 1985 and was declared commercial on November 18, 1988. The plant is connected to two single-circuit 345 kV Transmission Lines and three 120 kV lines. They are operated and maintained by ITC Transmission.

The plant is named after the Italian nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi, most noted for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor as well as many other major contributions to nuclear physics. Fermi won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity.

On October 5, 1966, Fermi 1, a prototype fast breeder reactor, suffered a partial fuel meltdown, although no radioactive material was released. After repairs it was shut down by 1972.^[2]

On August 8, 2008, John McCain was taken on a 45-minute tour of the plant, becoming the first actively campaigning presidential candidate to visit a nuclear plant.^[3]