Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant
| Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant | |
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 Location of Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Hayes Township, Charlevoix County, near Charlevoix, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 45°21′32″N 85°11′50″W / 45.35889°N 85.19722°WCoordinates: 45°21′32″N 85°11′50″W / 45.35889°N 85.19722°W |
| Status | Decommissioned |
| Construction began | 1954–1962 |
| Commission date | March 29, 1963 |
| Decommission date | August 29, 1997 |
| Operator(s) | Consumers Power |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | BWR |
| Reactor supplier | General Electric |
| Power generation | |
| Units decommissioned | 1 × 67 MW |
Big Rock Point was a nuclear power plant near Charlevoix, Michigan. 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.
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 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.
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 on 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.
Because of its contributions to the nuclear and medical industries, the American Nuclear Society named Big Rock Point a Nuclear Historic Landmark.
The 235,000-pound (107,000 kg) reactor vessel was removed on August 25, 2003 and shipped to Barnwell, South Carolina on October 7, 2003.
All of Big Rock Point's 500-acre (200 ha) has been torn down. Other than eight spent fuel casks and the spherical containment structure, there are no signs that the site was home to a nuclear power plant.
Decommissioning costs totaled $390,000,000.
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