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| Trojan Nuclear Power Plant | |
|---|---|
 May 2006, shortly before demolition | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Columbia County, Oregon, U.S. (nearRainier, Oregon) |
| Coordinates | 46°2′18″N122°53′6″W / 46.03833°N 122.88500°W /46.03833; -122.88500 |
| Status | Demolished |
| Construction began | 1 February 1970 |
| Commission date | 20 May 1976 |
| Decommission date | 9 November 1992 |
| Construction cost | $460 million[citation needed]($1.97 billion in 2024[1]) |
| Operator | Portland General Electric |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
| Cooling towers | 1 ×Natural Draft |
| Thermal capacity | 1 × 3411 MWth |
| Power generation | |
| Units decommissioned | 1 × 1095 MW |
| Capacity factor | 53.6% (lifetime) |
| Annual net output | 4,962 GW·h (lifetime average) |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was apressurized water reactornuclear power plant (Westinghouse reactor vessels) in thenorthwestUnited States, located 30 miles north ofPortland, Oregon and southeast ofRainier,Oregon.[2] It is thus far the sole commercial nuclear power plant to be built in Oregon. There was public opposition to the plant from the design stage. The three main opposition groups were the Trojan Decommissioning Alliance, Forelaws on the Board, andMothers for Peace. There were largelynon-violent protests from 1977, and subsequent arrests of participants.
The plant connected to the grid in December 1975.
After 17 years of interrupted service, the plant was closed permanently in 1992 by its operator,Portland General Electric (PGE),[3] after cracks were repeatedly discovered in the steam-generator tubing in the non-radioactive or "safe" side of the plant, and continuing repairs proved too costly. Decommissioning and demolition of the plant began the following year and was mostly completed by 2006.[4]
While operating, the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant represented more than 12% of the electrical generation capacity of theState of Oregon. The site lies about twelve miles (20 km) north ofSt. Helens, on the westerly bank of theColumbia River.
At the site of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant's eventual construction, theTrojan Powder Company manufactured gunpowder and dynamite on a 634-acre (2.57 km2) parcel. Subsequently, in 1967,Portland General Electric selected the parcel for a new nuclear power plant.[5]Construction began on February 1, 1970;[6][7][8] firstcriticality was achieved on December 15, 1975, andgrid connection eight days later on December 23. Commercial operation began on May 20,1976,[9] under a 35-year license to expire in 2011. At the time, the single 1,130megawatt unit at Trojan was the world's largestpressurized water reactor; it cost$460 million to buildthe plant.[10]
Environmental opposition dogged Trojan from its inception,[8] and the opposition included non-violent protests organized by theTrojan Decommissioning Alliance.Direct action protests were held at the plant in 1977 and 1978, resulting in hundreds of arrests.[11]
In 1978, the plant went offline on March 17 for routine refueling and was idle for nine months while modifications were made to improve its resistance toearthquakes.[12] This followed the discovery of both major building construction errors and the close proximity of a previously unknownfault.[13] The operators sued the builders, and an undisclosed out-of-court settlement was eventually reached.[citation needed]
The Trojan steam generators were designed to last the life of the plant, but it was only four years before premature cracking of the steam tubes was observed.[citation needed] In October 1979, the plant was shut down through the end of the yearfor repairs.[14][15][16] The plant had an extended shutdown in 1984, with difficulty restarting.[17]
In the 1980 election, a ballot measure to ban construction of further nuclear power plants in the state without federally approved waste facilities was approved by the voters 608,412 (53.2%) to 535,049 (46.8%).[18] In 1986, a ballot measure initiated byLloyd Marbet for immediate closure of the Trojan plant failed 35.7% yes to 64.3% no.[19] This proposal was resubmitted in 1990, and again in 1992 when a similar proposal (by Jerry and Marilyn Wilson) to close the plant was also included. Each measure was soundly defeated by vote margins over 210,000 votes.[20][21][22] Although all closure proposals were defeated, the plant operators committed to successively earlier closure dates for the plant.
In 1992, PGE spent $4.5 million to successfully defeat ballot measures seeking to close Trojan immediately, rather than within four years, as PGE hadplanned.[23][24] At the time, it was the most expensive ballot measure campaign in Oregon history.[25] A week after the election, the Trojan plant suffered another steam generator tube leak of radioactive water, and wasshut down.[26] It was announced that replacement of the steam generators would be necessary. In December 1992, documents were leaked from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission showing that staff scientists believed that Trojan might be unsafeto operate.[26] In early January 1993, PGE chief plant manager David B. Fancher announced the company would not try torestart Trojan.[27][28][29]
The spent fuel was transferred from cooling pools to 34 concrete and steelstorage casks in 2003.[30]
In 1993 a member of the plant operations staff made and sold coffee mugs with the inscription: Trojan Defueling Team Member and a caption under the logo that said "Will Work For Food". The mugs sold fast and at least a second batch were made.
In 2005, thereactor vessel and other radioactive equipment were removed from the Trojan plant, encased inconcrete foam, shrink-wrapped, and transported intact by barge along the Columbia River toHanford Nuclear Reservation inWashington, where it was buried in a pit and covered with 45 feet (14 m) of gravel, which made it the first commercial reactor to be moved and buried whole.[31] It was awaiting transport to theYucca Mountain Repository until that project was canceled in 2009.[32]
The iconic 499-foot-tall (152 m)cooling tower, visible fromInterstate 5 in Washington andU.S. Route 30 in Oregon, was demolished in 2006 viadynamiteimplosion at 7:00 a.m.PDT on Sunday,May 21.[33][34] This event marked the first implosion of a cooling tower at a nuclear plant in the United States.[citation needed] Additional demolition work on the remaining structures continued through 2008. The central office building and the reactor building were demolished by Northwest Demolition and Dismantling[35] in 2008. Remaining are five buildings: two warehouses, a small building on the river side, a guard shack, and offices outside the secured facility. It is expected that demolition of the plant will cost approximately $230 million, which includes the termination of the plant possession-only license, conventional demolition of the building and continuing cost for storage of used nuclear fuel.[citation needed]
A number of the civil defense sirens that were originally installed within a 10-mile (16 km) radius of Trojan, to warn of an incident at the plant that could endanger the general public, continue to stand in the Washington cities ofLongview,Kelso, andKalama.[36] Some of the other sirens, which have been removed, have been repurposed astsunami warning sirens along theOregon coast.[37] While there are no plans to remove the remaining sirens, the city of Longview has removed a few of the sirens on an as-needed basis to make way for other projects.[38]
Trojan Heliport (FAALID:3OR7) was a 60 x 60 ft. (18 x 18 m) private turfheliport located at the power plant. It is no longer listed in the FAA website.
According to behind-the-scenes interviews, for the 1979 filmThe China Syndrome, producerMichael Douglas and production designerGeorge C. Jenkins toured the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant and were allowed to take extensive photographs of the control room. The film set built atSunset Gower Studios was largely based on these photographs.[citation needed]
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