‘We Did Not Invite You.’ Citizens Rage at Town Hall Over Proposed Nuclear AI Data Center

The University of Michigan walked into a three-hour town hall in Ypsilanti Township on Wednesday night and walked out with even more anger in the room. The school is partnering with Los Alamos National Laboratory, the federal lab best known for nuclear weapons work, on a proposed $1.2 billion hyperscale data center. That pairing alone was enough to set off alarms. The meeting was supposed to calm people down. It did the opposite.

Residents raised the usual data-center complaints first: power bills, water use, and noise. But this project carries an extra layer of distrust. Township leaders and residents worry the facility would support nuclear weapons research, not just general scientific computing. They also say the university has talked down to them, misled them, and treated the whole process like a done deal.

University faculty director Patricia Hurn tried to sell the project as a tool for cancer care, drug discovery, grid work, and sustainable computing. The crowd jeered. Steven Ceccio, the lead engineer, argued that the facility would be smaller than flashy commercial projects like The Barn in nearby Saline Township, an OpenAI project he described as much larger. That comparison didn’t land either. One resident with data-center experience said even well-funded facilities are still loud, still use generators, and still don’t belong next to homes and schools.

The university kept avoiding the phrase “data center,” preferring “scientific computing center.” Ceccio said that distinction mattered because the project is tied to nonprofit research, not commercial activity. Los Alamos didn’t show up in person and instead sent a letter saying the system would not house plutonium or produce weapons. But the same letter also said some of the computing could support nuclear modernization work related to the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. stockpile.

That is where the whole thing curdled. Township attorney Douglas Winters said the site could be a high-value target, and Los Alamos pushed back hard on that language. Residents heard something simpler: a powerful institution showing up late, with a huge computer complex, and asking for trust after the fact. Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo closed by saying the university had lied and that people were already talking about selling homes. The school says it will hold another meeting on October first. It may want a better plan than a lecture.