Overview
- The university selected a 144-acre parcel on Textile Road in Ypsilanti Township on Wednesday, Aug. 12 as the preferred site for a roughly $1.25 billion research computing and data center developed with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- U‑M says the campus portion will serve academic researchers and a separate federal center will support Los Alamos’s large-scale computer modeling, including work on the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, and it insists no nuclear materials will ever be placed at the site.
- Township officials and residents have long opposed locating a facility tied to nuclear research in the community and the Ypsilanti Township Board passed a resolution in March opposing such development because of limited local engagement and safety worries.
- Regent Paul Brown publicly called for a pause to allow meaningful resident input and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell demanded greater transparency, and the university has scheduled a community town hall for Sept. 9 to answer questions.
- Critics point to an absence of deed restrictions, the university’s tax-exempt status, nearby rivers and airports, and local racial and economic disparities as reasons the project could spur legal fights and renewed demands for enforceable environmental and safety guarantees.