Our Friendly Neighborhood Nuclear Reactor

Local kids call the Fermi II nuclear reactor the “cloud machine.” Its billowing steam constantly drifts out over Lake Erie. Compared with the coal-fired power plant nearby, the nuclear plant feels futuristic and clean. Since coming online in 1988, Fermi II has produced 200 billion kilowatt-hours of carbon-free electricity. It currently employs about 850 people.

The thing about living near a nuclear reactor, especially in a place where there are never hurricanes and where tornadoes and earthquakes are rare, is that you don’t think about it. The plant sits next to Sterling State Park, a popular place to swim in the summer. Residents are far more concerned about the lake’s algae blooms than they are about radiation, though you can see the towers from the beach. But naturally, everyone jokes about kids growing gills and catching three-eyed fish.

The level of trust Monroe County residents have in the nuclear reactor is surprising considering that the first version, Fermi I, suffered a partial meltdown on Oct. 5, 1966. Fermi I was a breeder reactor, a temperamental design that, when working properly, produces more fissile material than it consumes. The incident caused 1% of the fuel to melt. An emergency shutdown ended the crisis after 20 minutes with no serious injuries or radiation leaks.

Monroe is about 30 miles south of Detroit. The meltdown inspired a 1975 book, “We Almost Lost Detroit,” and a 1977

Gil Scott Heron

song of the same name meant to terrify listeners. After the incident, a joke went around that someone had knocked a beer can into the reactor. In 1968, engineers determined that a zirconium plate, originally installed as a safety measure, had broken loose, causing the partial meltdown. Fermi I was closed in late 1972, when planning for its second iteration was already under way.

After Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011), you’d think residents would have clamored to close Fermi II. But apart from occasional dust-ups with activists about waste storage or bogus cancer-rate statistics in the surrounding area, there isn’t much noise about shutting it down. The first reactor’s safety systems worked, and the second one’s are expected to.

Rising global energy costs and questions about the reliability of wind and solar have produced a new moment for nuclear. Governments considering keeping their nuclear power plants operating or adding nuclear to their energy mix should know that it isn’t inevitable that a new reactor will provoke local opposition. Even a small meltdown didn’t prevent a Michigan town from embracing the future of clean energy.

Mr. Naida is an assistant editorial features editor at the Journal.