Sites Where We Focus

  1. Portsmouth Nuclear Reservation:  Well over a billion yet-to-be found dollars is needed for environmental clean-up of the former uranium enrichment plant at Piketon, Ohio. This facility provided fuel for nuclear bombs and reactors starting in the 1950s.  A “new” enrichment operation, the failed American Centrifuge Plant, must not be given further subsidies.

 

  1. Davis-Besse Nuclear Reactor:  This reactor is on Lake Erie east of Toledo.  Davis-Besse has had more accidents and violations than any other operating reactor in the U.S.  For the last 5 years intervenors have been taking legal action against a 20-year license extension for this facility. Ironically, FirstEnergy is requesting a $3-billion ratepayer subsidy because this reactor is no longer profitable!   

 

  1. Perry Nuclear Reactor:  East of Cleveland on Lake Erie, this reactor is on a fault line in one of Ohio’s most frequent earthquake zones.  Perry suffered a strong earthquake while under construction. It was named by Reuters as the most dangerous nuclear plant in the world, in terms of danger to worker safety.

 

  1.  Fermi: The Fermi site is in Michigan on Lake Erie, 20 miles north of Toledo.  Fermi 1, a prototype fast breeder reactor, suffered a partial meltdown in 1966 (See the book We Almost Lost Detroit) and is now closed.  Fermi 2 is the world’s largest Mark 1 reactor, the same type as those in Fukushima. In 2014 Detroit Energy (DTE) applied for a 20-year license renewal for Fermi 2. In April 2015 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted DTE a license to build a new reactor, Fermi 3. The Sierra Club was one of 4 organizations that intervened, delaying the licensure for over 5 years.

 

  1. CCanada Dumpanada’s Proposed Nuclear Waste Dump: Ontario Power Generation wants to bury low- and intermediate-level   radioactive wastes at its Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario. This proposed “Deep Geologic Repository” is less than 1/2 mile from Lake Huron and just above Lake Erie. The Great Lakes supply the drinking water for 40 million people. Resolutions against the dump have been made by 155 cities and counties representing 21 million people in the U.S and Canada. After taking testimony for over 2 years, a review panel gave the dump a thumbs-up in May 2015. A legal challenge was filed in June 2015.