The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III office in Lisle, Ill., has activated its incident response center and entered monitoring mode due to an Alert declared at the Fermi nuclear plant. The Alert - the second lowest of the NRC's four emergency level classifications – was declared at 4:17 a.m. after high winds caused some physical damage to the auxiliary building that houses certain safety-related equipment. There is no evidence of damage to safety equipment at this time and the utility continues to assess the extent of damage to the plant. The plant is currently shut down.

The plant, operated by Detroit Edison Co., is located in Newport, Mich., 25 miles northeast of Toledo, Ohio.

It shut down automatically as designed after the loss of one of two offsite power supply sources to the plant. In addition to the Alert declared due to building damage, plant operators also declared an Unusual Event due to the loss of offsite power. An Unusual Event is the lowest of the NRC's four emergency level classifications. Plant equipment functioned as designed during the scram. In addition to the offsite power source, the plant's diesel generators are also supplying power to the plant.

The plant shut down automatically, as designed, early this morning after the high winds caused the loss of one of two offsite power supply sources to the plant. This power loss prompted plant operators to declare an Unusual Event preceding the Alert declared due to by building damage. An Unusual Event is the lowest of the NRC's four emergency level classifications. The plant's diesel generators are augmenting power supplied by the remaining offsite power supply source.

The plant is in a stable condition.

There is no current threat to the public as a result of the situation at the plant.

NRC resident inspectors are monitoring the situation at the plant and are in constant communication with Region III and NRC Headquarters experts to make sure that conditions at the plant are stable.