Fermi 2 trips offline, unscheduled outage underway

[News Wire]

Fermi 2 ended an 849-day unscheduled-outage-free streak on May 19, 2026. This forced short outage is the first for the unit in 2026, following zero forced outages during 2025. The 1,141-MW General Electric BWR/4 is currently one of one unit in an unscheduled outage across the fleet.

MONROE, MI — Fermi 2 entered an unscheduled outage on May 19, 2026. The NRC has not yet issued an event notification for this trip; this post will be updated if one is filed.

This is the first unscheduled outage of 2026 for the unit. Prior to this trip, the unit had run for more than 2 years without an unscheduled outage.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 91.1% (5 currently in refueling, 1 in unscheduled outages), above the 87.0% baseline for this month over the past five years.

Fermi 2 is a 1,141-MW General Electric BWR/4 operated by DTE Electric (commercial operation since 1988). At full power, it supplies enough electricity for roughly 913,000 homes. Its operating license runs through 2045 (renewed in 2016).

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View Fermi 2's ratings, history, predictions, and current status on NukeWorker. This thread will be updated when the unit returns to service.

Want the full picture? Subscribe to the NukeWorker outage schedule for every current and upcoming U.S. nuclear outage: refueling, forced, and the 18-month rolling forecast.

Sources: NRC Daily Reactor Power Status reports, utility-published outage schedules, and NukeWorker's predictive model.

[Rennhack]

https://www.mlive.com/news/2026/05/dtes-fermi-2-nuclear-power-plant-shut-down-after-small-fire.html

Fermi 2 Fire Summary

• Small fire broke out at 6:03 p.m. Monday in the turbine building (non-nuclear side); extinguished within 7 minutes.
• Reactor was manually shut down as a precaution; remained offline Tuesday morning.
• No outside first responders required; no public or worker safety risk per DTE and NRC.
• NRC responded immediately; confirmed plant operated as designed.
• DTE assessing cause; repairs required before restart.
• Fermi 2 is a 1,200 MW plant (online since 1988) supplying ~20% of DTE's generation.
• Prior precedent: similar small fire during a 2014 refueling outage.