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RAINIER, Ore. (AP) -- One of Oregon's most recognizable and controversial landmarks is about to collapse in a cloud of dust.
Portland General Electric Co. plans to implode the massive cooling tower on Sunday at its defunct Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, northwest of Portland.
The 499-foot tower will be reduced to a 41,000-ton pile of rubble by about 2,000 pounds of explosives. It was Oregon's first and only nuclear power plant. (Trojan Implosion Details)
"The nuclear history in Oregon is a troubled one at best," said David Stewart-Smith, retired assistant director for the Oregon Department of Energy. "It started off as the new and exciting technology but didn't pan out very well."
Trojan opened in 1976 and was beset by problems until it closed in 1993. (Trojan History)
The plant was built near a geological fault in the Columbia River in the '70s. In 1989, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fined PGE for debris in two sumps that could have prevented its emergency core-cooling system from working in a disaster.
Its ongoing problems led many to believe it was the inspiration for the error-ridden nuclear plant in "The Simpsons," a creation of Portland-born Matt Groening. (Groening's representative said it is not.)
The plant rarely ran at full capacity, often stopping operations when there was a major snowmelt because PGE could buy excess hydroelectric power from nearby Bonneville Dam cheaper than the power plant could make it. And the market for energy was changing, making Trojan's operation more labor intensive and expensive than other alternatives.
So after steam tubes cracked and leaked radioactive gas into the air, PGE and regulators decided it made more sense to close the plant than to continue operations. Built for $460 million in the 70s, Trojan was approved to be decommissioned at a $429 million total cost.
Full decommissioning will take several decades. Remaining buildings will be destroyed gradually through 2008. And federal regulators are trying to develop a national repository where the spent radioactive fuel rods can be kept permanently. The rods are now kept in concrete casks sitting above ground. (Full Decommission Details)
The tower implosion, however, has garnered most of the attention.
"It's going to be fun to have a picture of this," said Mark McDougal, an attorney and environmentalist involved in the long-running fight against Trojan.
Some locals and former workers said the event may be a sad reminder of the plant's heyday. The power plant brought jobs and major tax revenue to Rainier and surrounding areas.
At its peak, Trojan had 1,200 employees in a city with roughly the same number of residents.
Its closure was devastating, said Gary Gettman, who was a supervisor of quality control inspections at Trojan and now pumps gas to make up for the retirement money he lost after the fall of Enron, which used to own PGE.
"It's still a topic of conversation - how good it used to be - good for us, good for the community," Gettman said.
Portland General Electric Co. plans to implode the massive cooling tower on Sunday at its defunct Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, northwest of Portland.
The 499-foot tower will be reduced to a 41,000-ton pile of rubble by about 2,000 pounds of explosives. It was Oregon's first and only nuclear power plant. (Trojan Implosion Details)
"The nuclear history in Oregon is a troubled one at best," said David Stewart-Smith, retired assistant director for the Oregon Department of Energy. "It started off as the new and exciting technology but didn't pan out very well."
Trojan opened in 1976 and was beset by problems until it closed in 1993. (Trojan History)
The plant was built near a geological fault in the Columbia River in the '70s. In 1989, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fined PGE for debris in two sumps that could have prevented its emergency core-cooling system from working in a disaster.
Its ongoing problems led many to believe it was the inspiration for the error-ridden nuclear plant in "The Simpsons," a creation of Portland-born Matt Groening. (Groening's representative said it is not.)
The plant rarely ran at full capacity, often stopping operations when there was a major snowmelt because PGE could buy excess hydroelectric power from nearby Bonneville Dam cheaper than the power plant could make it. And the market for energy was changing, making Trojan's operation more labor intensive and expensive than other alternatives.
So after steam tubes cracked and leaked radioactive gas into the air, PGE and regulators decided it made more sense to close the plant than to continue operations. Built for $460 million in the 70s, Trojan was approved to be decommissioned at a $429 million total cost.
Full decommissioning will take several decades. Remaining buildings will be destroyed gradually through 2008. And federal regulators are trying to develop a national repository where the spent radioactive fuel rods can be kept permanently. The rods are now kept in concrete casks sitting above ground. (Full Decommission Details)
The tower implosion, however, has garnered most of the attention.
"It's going to be fun to have a picture of this," said Mark McDougal, an attorney and environmentalist involved in the long-running fight against Trojan.
Some locals and former workers said the event may be a sad reminder of the plant's heyday. The power plant brought jobs and major tax revenue to Rainier and surrounding areas.
At its peak, Trojan had 1,200 employees in a city with roughly the same number of residents.
Its closure was devastating, said Gary Gettman, who was a supervisor of quality control inspections at Trojan and now pumps gas to make up for the retirement money he lost after the fall of Enron, which used to own PGE.
"It's still a topic of conversation - how good it used to be - good for us, good for the community," Gettman said.
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