Anti-nuclear protests were part of Big Rock Point's life from the beginning, claiming increased health risks to everyone in the region. Scientists and engineers called for its shutdown for alleged design flaws as early as 1976 in a hearing held by a Congressional committee. Protesters were arrested at the plant's gates in 1978 and 1980, the latter year the second time for five of them. Ralph Nader condemned Big Rock Point in a 1980 Traverse City speech for "hooking our economy deeper and deeper into this nuclear madness." He claimed "It is dangerous, unneeded, and cruelly inflicts itself on the people of that area." Greenpeace came to Charlevoix in 1991 and gathered 400 protesters.

Numerous studies, including one by the National Cancer Institute in 1991, showed no general increase in risk to people living near U. S. nuclear facilities.