The anti-nuclear organizations “Beyond Nuclear” and “Don’t Waste Michigan” filed a petition this past week calling for the closure of Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in Monroe County, Michigan. The petition is unlikely to go anywhere, but it does gives these groups the opportunity to plead their case in the media.

Most of the time, when opponents of nuclear energy go to the press, their claims go completely unchallenged. To help remedy that, here are four facts about Fermi that you might not have known:

1. Fermi produces more low-carbon electricity than every wind turbine in Michigan combined

Nuclear energy produces virtually no carbon emissions and no air pollution. That’s because it doesn’t involve combustion, unlike coal, natural gas, or biomass. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that nuclear energy is comparable to wind power in terms of its life-cycle carbon emissions.

Carbon emissions from various means of electricity generation. Source: Schlömer, et al., “Annex III: Technology-specific cost and performance parameters,” Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge: 2014), Table A.III.2.

But nuclear is much more energy-dense than wind. In 2019, Fermi nuclear plant produced almost twice as much clean electricity as every wind turbine in Michigan combined. (1, 2)

Fermi nuclear plant produces more low-carbon electricity than all of Michigan’s wind turbines by a sizable margin.

To put this another way, if Fermi closed, we’d have to nearly triple the number of wind turbines in the state just to break even on low-carbon energy. Given that our current supply of wind power has taken 10+ years to build, that seems very unlikely to happen.

Fermi nuclear plant is one of our state’s largest sources of clean energy. For this reason, Fermi will be a great asset for communities in Southeast Michigan looking to decarbonize in coming years.

2. Fermi is one of Michigan’s most reliable sources of energy

Over a three year period (2017, 2018, 2019), Fermi nuclear plant has had a capacity factor of about 82%. That means that Fermi has been producing at about 82% of its theoretical max capacity, on average.

How does that compare to other sources?

Michigan’s nuclear plants, including Fermi, have capacity factors in the 80% range, with natural gas, wind, and solar all significantly lower. Source: Energy Information Administration

Well, natural gas tends to have a capacity factor of a little more than 50%, wind power has a capacity factor of about 35%, and solar power has a capacity factor of just 25%. That means that nuclear plants like Fermi tend to be available more than twice as often (even three to four times as often in some cases) as renewables like wind and solar, and nuclear is even more reliable than fossil fuels. This helps maintain grid stability, keeps electricity costs down, and provides support in times of adversity.

3. Fermi and other nuclear plants produce a minuscule amount of waste

What’s the number one concern people have about nuclear energy? “What are we going to do with the waste?”

Like all sources of energy (including renewables!), nuclear energy produces some waste material. But an advantage of nuclear is that it makes such a beautifully small amount of waste.

The best way to illustrate this is just to look at some. Here’s a short video from James Conca:

Used nuclear fuel (what people are typically referring to when they say “nuclear waste”) is stored on-site in dry casks. You can easily see the used fuel that Fermi has produced by looking at satellite imagery. It’s on a concrete pad in the northwest corner of the plant’s central area:

This is a manageable amount of material. Fermi and other nuclear plants produce so little waste that we can actually safely contain and store all of it. This is certainly not true of fossil fuels (which dump huge quantities of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere), and it’s not even true (yet) of renewable energy. Nuclear plants are already handling their waste more responsibly than anyone else in the energy sector.

The waste material is radioactive. But it’s not dangerous inside the dry casks. As you saw in the video from James Conca above, you can stand right next to these casks and you’ll be just fine. The material is also solid; it can’t “leak,” in contrast to what you see in cartoons.

The bottom line is that Fermi and other nuclear plants produce abundant, pollution-free energy, and the waste that comes out of the process is small and safely contained, in contrast to pretty much every other energy source we have. Maybe when other energy sources clean up their act, we can come back to nuclear energy and figure out different solutions for the waste. But used nuclear fuel is safe where it is, we know how to handle it without hurting anyone, and its existence is certainly not a reason to shut down nuclear plants or block the construction of new ones.

4. Fermi provides a huge economic boost to the region

Fermi supplies enough electricity to power the lives of over 1 million people. That in itself is of great benefit. But it also means that Fermi, and other nuclear plants, are extremely valuable resources. And that in turn means that nuclear plants tend to pay a lot in property taxes.

Fermi supplies around 8% of Monroe County’s revenue, and those funds provide millions of dollars to local schools (like Monroe County Community College) and public services.

Of course, critics would lampoon me if I didn’t mention that DTE, the company that owns Fermi, is seeking to lower their property taxes substantially, which would cut a large amount of funding for Monroe County services if they’re successful.

Nevertheless, the consternation surrounding this tax dispute illustrates just how valuable the plant really is to the community. We can debate the ethics and reasonableness of DTE’s effort to reduce the nominal value of its plants. But what is not in dispute is that Fermi provides a lot more than just electricity. It provides support for many other things we value, like schools, libraries, parks, and public safety. And losing Fermi altogether would be an enormous loss.

Summary

Realistically, the petition by anti-nuclear activists to close Fermi is not going to be successful, especially since it is based on false information (the petition claims the NRC has exempted Fermi plant from having to do maintenance, but no such exemption has been issued).

However, nuclear energy is in jeopardy in Michigan, and in the United States in general. It’s critically important to challenge fear-mongering and misinformation about nuclear power. In reality, Fermi nuclear plant has been and will continue to be a bulwark for Michigan’s energy sector. It is one of Michigan’s largest sources of low-carbon energy, producing more clean electricity than our entire wind portfolio. Fermi is one of our most reliable power plants, keeping the lights and heat on through thick and thin. It provides huge financial support to Monroe County, funding schools, public safety, and other services. And the environmental impacts of Fermi’s operation are minimal. The plant produces no air pollution, and a tiny amount of waste material which is all safely contained.

Fermi nuclear plant is a tremendous asset for Michigan. Let’s not give up on it.