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Big Rock Point was a
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
near Charlevoix, Michigan, United States. Big Rock operated from 1962 to 1997. It was owned and operated by Consumers Power, now known as Consumers Energy. Its boiling water reactor was made by General Electric (GE) and was capable of producing 67 megawatts of electricity. Bechtel Corporation was the primary contractor.


History

Big Rock was Michigan's first nuclear power plant and the nation's fifth. It also produced cobalt-60 for the medical industry from 1971 to 1982. Ground was broken on July 20, 1960. Construction was completed in 29 months at a cost of $27.7 million. Its license from the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
was issued on August 29, 1962. The reactor first went critical on September 27 and the first electricity was generated on December 8, 1962. A promotional video for the plant featured then GE spokesman
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
.


Facts and figures

* Reactor vessel dimensions: tall x in diameter * Thickness of rector vessel walls: 5½ inches * A single 10-ton load of uranium nuclear fuel in Big Rock's reactor could generate the same amount of electricity as 260,000 tons of coal. *The stack that once stood behind the main generator of the plant was used as a navigational landmark to let boaters aboard freighters have a visual landmark to Charlevoix, Michigan.


Closure and decommissioning

Consumers Energy had previously announced that Big Rock Point's operating license would not be renewed when it expired on May 31, 2000. However, economics proved in January 1997 that it was not feasible to keep Big Rock Point running to the license's expiration date. The reactor was scrammed for the last time at 10:33 a.m. EDT on August 29, 1997, 35 years to the day after its license had been issued. The last fuel was removed from the core on September 20. Decontamination was completed in 1999. During the decommissioning process it was discovered that a backup safety system at the plant had been inoperable for at least the previous 14 years. The Liquid Poison System (LPS) consisted of a tank filled with a liquid solution containing boron, a neutron absorber. In the event of a control rod failure during a reactor scram, the LPS system would have drained the boron solution into the core thus halting the nuclear chain reaction. However, during decommissioning when technicians attempted to drain the tank they were unable to do so due to a corroded pipe. Because of its contributions to the nuclear and medical industries, the American Nuclear Society named Big Rock Point a Nuclear Historic Landmark. The reactor vessel was removed on August 25, 2003 and shipped to
Barnwell, South Carolina Barnwell is a city in and county seat of Barnwell County, South Carolina, United States, located along U.S. Route 278. The population was 4,750 at the 2010 census. Geography Barnwell is located east of the center of Barnwell County at (33.244 ...
on October 7, 2003. All of Big Rock Point's area has been torn down. Other than eight spent fuel casks, there are no signs that the site was home to a nuclear power plant. Decommissioning costs totaled $390,000,000.


Reuse of property

In July 2006, the state of Michigan announced it was considering buying the site, which features a mile of
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
shoreline, for a possible state park. As part of the sale of Consumers' Palisades Nuclear Plant, the new owner Entergy accepted the responsibility for a basketball court size piece of property at Big Rock containing that plant's eight casks of spent fuel.


Controversial events

Located near Big Rock Point was a military base for the United States Air Force
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
Detachment 6 known as Bay Shore Radar Bombing Score (RBS) Group. Low altitude flights were performed by B-52Cs to simulate deadly bombing missions. On January 7, 1971, a B52C (Using radio call sign ‘Hiram 16’) from the bombing group at Westover Air Force Base near Springfield, Massachusetts took off to perform radar bomb scoring in tandem with the Bay Shore RBS group at the Bay Shore RBS Site. At 6:33 PM, after completing three successful electronic bombings, the Bay Shore RBS crew lost contact with the B-52C flight crew. Witnesses observed a fireball falling from the sky with a large associated loud explosion as the B-52C impacted the water at
Little Traverse Bay Little Traverse Bay is a small bay, 170 feet (55 m) deep, off Lake Michigan in the northern area of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The cities of Harbor Springs and Petoskey are located on this bay. Harbor Springs originated as ''L'arbre de ...
, 5 miles north of the Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant. All nine on board were lost. This became known as
1971 B-52C Lake Michigan crash On January 7, 1971, a Boeing B-52C Stratofortress (serial 54-26660) of Strategic Air Command crashed into northern Lake Michigan at the mouth of Little Traverse Bay near Charlevoix, Michigan, while on a low-level training flight. All nine crew ...
.


References

* * * *


External links


Big Rock Point Restoration Project
on Consumers Energy's website
Headstart on Tomorrow
a 1962 film narrated by
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
discussing and showing parts of Big Rock construction {{Authority control Energy infrastructure completed in 1962 Nuclear power plants in Michigan Buildings and structures in Charlevoix County, Michigan CMS Energy Decommissioned nuclear power stations in the United States 1962 establishments in Michigan 1997 disestablishments in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites