The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant located on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan. The plant is operated by the Detroit Edison Company and owned (100 percent) by DTE Energy. It is approximately halfway between Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Two units have been constructed on this site. The first unit's construction started in 1963, and the second unit reached criticality in 1988.

The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power 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 suffered a partial fuel meltdown, although no radioactive material was released.

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.

Enrico Fermi 1

The 94 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor Fermi 1 unit under construction and development at the site from 1957 to 1972. On October 5, 1966 Fermi 1 suffered a partial fuel meltdown. According to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there was no abnormal radiation release to the environment.

The main cause of the temperature increase was a blockage in one of the spigots that allowed the flow of cooled liquid sodium into the reactor. The blockage caused an insufficient amount of coolant to enter; this was not noticed by the operators until the core temperature alarms sounded. Several fuel rod subassemblies reached high temperatures of around 700 °F (370 °C) (with an expected range near 580 °F, 304 °C), causing them to melt.

Following an extended shutdown that involved fuel replacement, repairs to vessel, and cleanup, Fermi 1 continued to operate intermittently until September 22, 1972, but was never again able to reach a fully operational state. It was officially decommissioned December 31, 1975. It is currently in SAFSTOR with a gradual "final" decommissioning in progress. There is some debate about whether the details of the accident as written in the book Fermi-1 New Age for Nuclear Power and published by the American Nuclear Society in 1979 are completely accurate. Several of the claims in the ANS's account are contradicted by certain parts of We Almost Lost Detroit, a book written by local Detroit newsman John Grant Fuller (subtitled "This Is Not A Novel").

Enrico Fermi 2

Fermi 2 is a 1,098 net MWe General Electric boiling water reactor owned by DTE Energy and operated by subsidiary Detroit Edison. It was opened in January 1988 and is currently in operation.

On June 6, 2010 a weak tornado touched down and damaged the Fermi 2 generator building and forced an automatic shutdown leaving over 30,000 people without power in the area. The plant is connected to two single-circuit 345 kV Transmission Lines and 3 120 kV lines. They are operated and maintained by ITC Transmission.

Enrico Fermi 3

In September 2008, Detroit Edison filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) for a third reactor. The new unit is supposed to be built on the same site, slightly to the southwest of Fermi 2. The reactor design selected is the 1,520 MWe GE-designed passive Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR). Review of the 17,000-page application could take four years, after which construction could take six years. The cost is estimated at as much as 10 billion dollars. CEO Anthony Earley said that DTE's analysis "so far shows that nuclear power will, over the long term, be the most cost-effective baseload option for our customers, ... We expect nuclear to remain the low-cost option, but we will continue to evaluate nuclear against other resources and will commit to proceeding with construction only at the right time and at the right cost".

In March 2009, a coalition of citizen groups asked federal regulators to reject plans for Fermi 3, contending that it would pose a range of threats to public health and the environment. The groups have filed 14 contentions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, claiming that a new plant would pose "radioactive, toxic and thermal impacts on Lake Erie's vulnerable western basin."

This proposed plant should not be confused with the original Fermi 3 project which was to be a companion unit identical to Fermi 2. The original Fermi 3 was ordered in 1972 and cancelled in 1974.

Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station
Country	United States
Locale	Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan
Status	Operational
Commission date	Unit 1: 1957 Unit 2: January 23, 1988
Licence expiration	Unit 2: March 3, 2025
Decommission date	Unit 1: September 22, 1972
Owner(s)	DTE Energy
Operator(s)	Detroit Edison
Architect(s)	Unit 2: Sargent & Lundy
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,122 MW (Unit 2)
Reactors planned	1 x 1,520 MW (2000s Unit 3)
Reactors decom.	1 x 94 MW (Unit 1)
Reactors cancelled	1 x 1,122 MW (1970s Unit 3)
Reactor type(s)	BWR (Unit 2)
Reactor supplier(s)	General Electric (Unit 2)
Power generation information
Annual generation	8,314 GW·h

The Waterford Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located on a 3,000-acre (12-km²) plot in Killona, Louisiana, in St. Charles Parish. Waterford is operated by Entergy Nuclear and is owned by Entergy Louisiana, Inc.

This Waterford Nuclear Power Plant has one Combustion Engineering two-loop pressurized water reactor. The plant produces 1,218 megawatts of electricity since the site's last refuel in October 2009. It has a dry ambient pressure containment building.

On August 28, 2005, Waterford shut down due to Hurricane Katrina approaching and declared an unusual event. Shortly after Katrina, Waterford restarted and now is in normal operation.

Entergy is planning to replace the unit's two steam generators as well as the reactor vessel closure head and control element drive mechanisms during a refueling outage in 2011. The project is estimated to cost $511 million. The steam generators are being replaced due to normal wear and tear on the equipment. Waterford 3 is one of the last units in its class to replace its steam generators. Entergy petitioned the Louisiana Public Service Commission on June 27, 2008 for approval of the project.

Waterford Nuclear Power Plant
Country	United States
Locale	Killona, Louisiana
Status	Operational
Commission date	September 24, 1985
Licence expiration	December 18, 2024
Owner(s)	Entergy Louisiana
Operator(s)	Entergy Nuclear
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,218 MW
Reactor type(s)	pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s)	Combustion Engineering
Power generation information
Annual generation	8,949 GW·h