Michigan’s energy future at a crossroads

Latest

Keith Gunter addresses a crowd in Ferndale, Michigan at a “Nuclear Power: What You Need to Know about Price, Pollution and proliferation” conference. PHOTO/ DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM
Keith Gunter addresses a crowd in Ferndale, Michigan at a “Nuclear Power: What You Need to Know about Price, Pollution and proliferation” conference.
PHOTO/ DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM

DETROIT, MI — Just after the fourth anniversary of the ongoing nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima on March 11, here in Michigan we stand at a pivotal moment in the direction of our state’s energy future. We are half a world apart from Japan, but we’re really too close for comfort.
DTE Energy’s Fermi-2 nuclear plant continues to operate just 30 miles away (the utility is seeking to extend Fermi-2’s license from 40 to 60 years). It has the same flawed containment design that failed in March 2011 and has been a major source of controversy for decades.
At the same time, DTE is about to receive approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for construction and operation of a Fermi-3, which if built would be the largest single nuclear reactor in the world, right next to Fermi-2. Cost projections are climbing toward $20 billion, and completion of Fermi-3 won’t be achieved without federal subsidies in the billions, plus Construction Work In Progress (CWIP, translated billing customers in advance with the approval of the Michigan Public Service Commission). DTE’s 1500-plus megawatt Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor would be the first of its kind built anywhere. It would require more concrete than to build the Pentagon, hardly a carbon-free operation.
Those who will remember will recall that Detroit Edison’s Fermi-1 (also a prototype) suffered a partial meltdown on October 5, 1966, chronicled in John Fuller’s excellent book “We Almost Lost Detroit.”
So as new Environmental Protection Agency regulations are mandating the shutdown of coal-fired power plants, we stand at an energy crossroads. After decades of pursuing the nuclear option at the direction of “experts” and multi-million dollar ad campaigns with no solutions for permanent waste storage in sight, with ever-multiplying reactor safety issues and construction price tags reaching into the stratosphere—at what point do we say “Yes!” in a big way to wind, solar, energy efficiency and conservation and green jobs?
Especially when demand projections by independent analysts agree that electricity from Fermi-3 isn’t needed. Especially when there’s some 650 tons of intensely radiated high-level nuclear waste in Fermi-2’s jammed fuel pool with no national repository. Especially when we come to the collective realization that safe, clean, “too cheap to meter” nuclear power has been a government/industry financed mirage all along.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has estimated that global nuclear plant construction would have to triple to even begin to mitigate the effects of climate change with nuclear power.
But if DTE and NRC go ahead with their choreographed power tangos for Fermi-3 and Fermi-2, challenges await them emanating from the public square—questioning the Certificate Of Need for Fermi-3, and the 20-year license extension for Fermi-2.
From the public square, Albert Einstein once said, should come America’s voice about nukes.

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

ICE Terror Campaign Threatens Us All

Several recent Facebook reels show how ICE is ramping up its campaign of terror against immigrants, citizens and protestors alike as the effort to create a police state continues and resistance grows. One creator speaks to the significance of Haitians now being targeted.

Medicaid Defenders in Wheelchairs Arrested Ahead of Senate Budget Vote

Over 60 people, including grandmas in wheelchairs, were arrested in the U.S. Senate Rotunda in a nonviolent protest against cuts like Medicaid and the SNAP food program in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Budget Bill.”

Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to ‘Billionaire-Backed Status Quo’ in NYC

New York City proved that a movement powered by hope, courage, and working class people can beat the money of billionaires.

The American People Want Peace, Not War!

The US's immoral and illegal attack on Iran threatens the whole world with war. The American people have a special responsibility to come out into the streets and rein in the US government, which has become a rogue state.

Juneteenth 2025: ‘We Have to Win this Fight,’ Hannah-Jones Tells Black Graduates

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones addressed Black graduates at Harvard University, telling them that "we are about to see unleashed upon us an America that we have not had to live in. And we have to win this battle."

More from the People's Tribune