{"id":6970,"date":"2017-11-15T21:25:33","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T02:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/mhugl\/?p=6970"},"modified":"2017-12-05T21:06:13","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T02:06:13","slug":"michigans-nearly-endured-nuclear-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/mhugl\/2017\/11\/15\/michigans-nearly-endured-nuclear-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan’s Nearly Endured Nuclear Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant located on the south shore of Little Traverse Bay (Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Flickr)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On January 7, 1971 at approximately 6:33 p.m. local time in the small town of Charlevoix, MI, residents of the community were startled by an explosion in the Little Traverse Bay.\u00a0 A Strategic Air Command B-52C was on a routine radar bomb scoring flight when it plummeted into the cold waters of Lake Michigan. What is more startling is that the massive aircraft was flying only at 700 feet when it crashed roughly 5 miles north of the Big Rock Point nuclear power plant. Even more astonishing, the B-52 was intending to fly directly over the nuclear power plant moments later.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy<\/span><\/h3>\n

During the Cold War, the buzz word\u00a0“nuclear”<\/em>\u00a0was normally associated with the fact that the United States and Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war. Both sides would flex their nuclear might through the deterrent factor of being able to deliver a nuclear strike at moment\u2019s notice. The Strategic Air Command (SAC) in the United States relied heavily on utilizing the B-52 heavy bomber as a mechanism to being able to deliver that nuclear strike to the Soviet Union.[11]<\/sup> Because of this, the B-52 became an iconic symbol across the nation that was associated with the word \u201cnuclear<\/em>\u201d. Less well known to society were the undertakings of private energy companies exploring the use of nuclear power for commercial energy. Consumers Power was one such company with early interest in the endeavor. In 1959, they had their eyes set on the south shore of Little Traverse Bay in the small town of Charlevoix, MI.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Strategic Air Command portrayed as the “Cold War Peace Keepers” Using nuclear deterrence as a means of world peace (Source: Pinterest)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plant would be named Big Rock Point. Construction of the plant started on July 20, 1960 in front of a crowd of 250 spectators. The construction was backed by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) whom stated it \u201csupports any business in the peaceful and constructive uses of atomic energy\u201d<\/em>.[2]<\/sup>\u00a0The AEC was not\u00a0aware at the time that roughly three years later, the “peaceful and constructive” use of atomic energy would be used\u00a0to aid the training for the Strategic Air Command’s “peaceful” use of atomic energy. The SAC’s view on peaceful was the threat of being able to use atomic energy packaged into a droppable bomb from an aircraft.\u00a0 This will start to play out as the 1960’s advanced toward the 70’s. Government agencies aside, headlines circled the local news outlets with front page titles such as \u201cAtomic Power Age Near for Northern Michigan\u201d or \u201cMichigan Goes Nuclear\u201d.[2]<\/sup>[3]<\/sup>\u00a0Consumers Power\u2019s president informed the public the \u201c$28 million dollar plant should be finished in September 1962\u201d. [2]<\/sup> Just missing the mark, 29 months later the plant was officially complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant during construction. December 1, 1961. (Source: US Government, Wikimedia)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The early operation of the plant was intended for research and development to prove nuclear plants were economically feasible in producing electricity. It did just that and in 1965, using its 10 ton load of uranium and the 67 Megawatt General Electric boiling water reactor, the plant was producing electricity for the local communities. \u201cBig Rock\u201d, as the locals called it, became Michigan\u2019s first commercial nuclear power plant, and only the nation\u2019s fifth overall.[9]<\/sup> Little did the plant know at the time of its construction, it would also become the \u201ctarget\u201d of low flying SAC bombers as they simulated bomb drops to stay prepared in case they needed to go operational against the Soviet Union.<\/span><\/p>\n

One Close Call Too Many<\/span><\/h3>\n

It is unknown whether the SAC brass were reading the headlines in July 1960 or an instance of pure coincidence occurred, but what is certain is that in 1963 the SAC moved a radar bomb scoring detachment from Ironwood, MI to a location 5 miles east of the newly constructed nuclear plant. These radar bomb scoring sites were used to evaluate the effectiveness of bomber crews by using radar pulses to simulate bomb drops. Maybe a lesson in leadership was learned from George S. Patton who once stated \u201cyou fight like you train\u201d which later was adopted to \u201cfight like you train, train like you fight\u201d.{*}<\/a>\u00a0{^}<\/a><\/sup> <\/em>What better way to train for nuclear war – in case it became the fight – than use targets you might actually engage. B-52 bombers could pretend to drop bombs on arbitrary locations, but why not a nuclear power plant that fictionally could be used to create the nuclear payload for a Soviet Union ICBM ready to launch against the U.S. Like war gaming, it is way more interesting the closer to reality the exercise is. Regardless of the reason for the move from Ironwood to Bay Shore (next to Charlevoix), the RBS site was operational in 1963 and conducted high and low level radar bomb scoring until its decommission.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Awaiting image release of bombers flying at low altitudes over Big Rock. Images take from the plant of bombers overhead!<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bombers that flew the simulated bombing missions flew at both high and low altitudes. The majority of the runs would be conducted at low level entry since Soviet air defenses performed exceptionally well at defending the high altitudes. The low level routes the aircraft flew became known as Oil Burners. Oil Burner 9 (OB-9) was the Northern Michigan route that included the Big Rock Point plant in its bombing corridor. Strategic Air Command bombers flew OB-9 constantly since the RBS site\u2019s inception in 1963. In the very beginning, some local residents were startled by the \u201csonic booms\u201d that were created from the supersonic aircraft that flew the route.[5]<\/sup> Eventually it became apparent that the sonic booms and bomber overflights were there to stay. Lt Col Joseph King, commanding officer of the local radar bomb scoring squadron, assured that to the public in several appearances with the press. Over time, the low and high flying aircraft, along with the occasional sonic boom, became natural to the surrounding communities and went unnoticed. It may have been swept under the rug in the local communities but Charlevoix\u2019s nuclear power plant was following the flights very closely.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Charlevoix Courier article expressing Big Rock’s concerns of the low level flights in 1967 (Source: Rick Wiles [Imgur])<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n The plant would constantly express its concern of bombers flying low and so close to the plant. The plant was not the only entity concerned with it being in the bombing corridor, their insurance company was as well. In fact, they were so concerned that they raised the annual premium for the plant in December 1970. The timing couldn\u2019t have been more ironic. On January 7, 1971 \u2013 less than a month after the insurance company raised the premium \u2013 a 450,000 lb. B-52C plunged into Little Traverse Bay only a few miles directly north of the nuclear power plant.[1]<\/sup>\u00a0Following the crash, the bombing runs were in the spotlight for both the public and the Big Rock facility, which was nearly seconds away from becoming the crash site. (Interested in reading in depth about the crash? Check out the story here<\/a>)<\/u><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Finding another Route<\/span><\/h3>\n

Dating back to November 29, 1963, the Big Rock Point plant was concerned with the OB-9 route. One of the first letters from the Atomic Energy Commission\u2019s Director of Regulation addressed this concern. The letter from Harold Price to the DOD\u2019s Department of the Air Force identified \u201c[\u2026] the Strategic Air Command has been using the Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant at Charlevoix, Michigan as a target for practice bombing runs [\u2026]\u201d [6]<\/sup> and expressed his desire reroute the flights. A reply from the Air Force assured them they would not fly directly over the plant.[7]<\/sup>\u00a0 The overflights still continued.\u00a0 The AEC and DOD remained in occasional contact about the overflights. One letter of correspondence provided insight into the OB-9 route. The Bay Shore RBS site provided data to the Big Rock Point plant superintendent which reported:<\/span><\/p>\n