alternatehistory.com

October 5, 1996

Michigan: Thirty years after Fermi

Twenty-three thousand people used to live here. Now it’s a ghost town [1].

Thirty years after the Fermi disaster, what was once strictly off-limits has now become a tourist trap. For only $20, you and your family can take a brief tour to the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident. After signing a waiver acknowledging the risks of entering the evacuation zone, you get a ticket and your own personal radiation dosimeter. Taking a bus from Toledo, you can explore the long-abandoned city of Monroe, Michigan, only a few miles from where the Fermi power plant once stood. Monroe, where many plant workers lived, and the surrounding area will not be safe for human habitation for several centuries. Reclaimed by nature, deer walk down the overgrown streets. The pedestal once holding the bronze statue of General George Custer, long ago looted by scrappers, has become overgrown by vines.

Tourists can gawk at the now-dilapidated motel that was the site of President Humphrey’s ill-fated visit, where he was exposed to radiation that may have led to his death shortly after his inauguration. Also popular with visitors is the Navarre Branch Library, which was to be dedicated by Mr. Humphrey the day after the meltdown. The library never opened to the public, since it was scheduled to open in December 1966. Inside, the library is mostly intact, except for some damage from looters and vandals. Another popular site is the Newport Naval Air Station, the site of a missile battery in the 50s and 60s that was used as a staging area during the Fermi cleanup.




Abandoned storefront in downtown Monroe, MI



Newport Nike Missile Base, Newport, MI

In the northern part of the evacuation zone, in what were once the southern suburbs of Detroit, you can see the long-abandoned Riverside Osteopathic Hospital and McClouth Steel buildings.



Riverside Osteopathic Hospital, Riverside, MI



McClouth Steel, Trenton, MI

Just a short ferry ride away, you can see the abandoned Boblo amusement park on Bois Blanc Island, near the deserted Canadian town of Amherstberg [2]. Undoubtedly, without the accident, Boblo would still be active today.



Boblo Island, Amherstberg, ON

In nearby Dearborn, just north of the Evacuation Zone, one can visit the Fermi Accident Exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum. Established in 1972, the exhibit holds many of artifacts related to the Fermi disaster, including a scale model of the plant, plant records, photographs, logbooks, worker identification cards, and even pieces of the plant itself. There is also a memorial to all of those who perished in the accident or as a result of participation in cleanup operations. [3]