The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Rainier, Oregon is scheduled to be demolished next Sunday, May 21st. Here are more details of the implosion as well as demolition updates.
The 499-foot cooling tower is scheduled to be imploded on May 21, 2006. PGE has chosen a contractor, Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI), which has safely imploded a number of large structures, including the Kingdome in Seattle. Every demolition bid proposal PGE received recommended implosion of the tower as the safest demolition method with the least community and environmental impact. The Trojan cooling tower is made of concrete and steel and contains no hazardous materials. It never contained any radioactive material, and all asbestos has been removed.
Rumor has it that the Portland Cacophony Society is planning a post-nuclear picnic the day of the implosion. Come join the fun as your favorite character from The China Syndrome.
UPDATE 1: It has been brought to our attention that the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant is the inspiration for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant that is owned by Charles Montgomery Burns and featured in The Simpsons. Aye carumba! They’re blowing up the power plant. D’oh!
UPDATE 2: Here’s some Trojan Nuclear Power Plant demolition coverage from the Washington Post and CBS News.
UPDATE 3: There are a bunch of great implosion photos on Flickr.
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Will they offer tours before the implosion date?
Oh no! That’s the plant that inspired Mr.Burns’ plant on The Simpsons …
So long, history and culture.
No tours, in fact they don’t want onlookers. They’re actually going to block I5 for the duration of the event. Such a shame!
On the good side, we’ve still got Lovejoy, Quimby, and Flanders streets. Oh, and Work on the Marvin Monroe Commemorative Plaza continues unabated. ;)
Any details on the implosion, like what time it’s happening? I read in friday’s oregonian that only Hwy 30 was going to be closed. I’d really like to watch if possible.
nevermind, I read the article.
Huh. It seems that the control room in The China Syndrome was based on the one at Trojan:
“The model for the control room of the plant was based upon the control room at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Rainier, Oregon (along the Columbia River). At the time, it was the only nuclear plant in the US to offer tours that included a tour of the gallery that looked down into the control room.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078966/trivia
Please take a moment and read this report…. it is most important: I wish we had a tip like this on 9/10/01 !
http://portland.craigslist.org/vnn/161242368.html
The Real Story on Trojan Implosion
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Reply to:
Date: 2006-05-15, 9:03PM PDT
Did you see the map of the security area? Doesn’t it seem excessively large for a mere demolition? When they take down 50 story buildings in a city, you can watch from across the street. So what’s up here? I did some digging, and I don’t have all pieces yet, but talking to some FAA types, a Homeland Security dude, a FEMA worker, and a Boeing employee, I think have the high points figured out.
This is not a routine demolition.
It is a test of several emergency systems and at least one potential defense system. It has long been thought that terrorists will try to target nuclear reactors, not so much for the explosive potential (there isn’t any), but to create an ecological disaster of radioactive contamination that will make Chernobyl look like a walk in the park. Homeland Security is especially curious as to how the details of such an attack would play out, so the Trojan Implosion is designed as a “simulation” of a nuclear power plant attack. There will be dynamite, but before that is triggered, a remote plane (not sure of the type, my Boeing leak would only say it is big and loaded with jetfuel) is going to crash into the tower ala 9/11. It will be coming in from a direction that will hide it from the TV cameras. My guess is on the northwest side. This part of the test will not only simulate the airplane hit, but will also demonstrate the capability of the remote aircraft, developed by Boeing, for military purposes.
After it strikes, the dynamite will be triggered, the tower will fall, and a huge cloud of cement dust will be kicked up. It has often been reported in the media that tower has ** no ** radioactivity. When pressed for details, and measurement data, it turns out that the word “no” is being interpreted to mean that the level of radioactivity is very low – below legal limits – but not zero. There is enough residual radioactivity in the cement dust that it can tracked after the implosion. That is the third goal of the test – to see how the radioactivity will disperse. It is such a low level that it really does not present a health risk – if you work in a building with granite steps, you will get more radiation from the granite going to work next week than you would from Trojan dust. But the cloud will be trackable for at least 500 miles, depending on wind and atmosphere condition. Look 500 miles due east of Trojan and what do you see? Any major population centers? Any key industries? No, not really.
So for the purpose of a “almost live” simulation of an attack, this is a perfect setup. A decommisioned nuclear plant; the countries largest military aircraft maker just up the street; a low population density zone downwind for a 1000 miles; even the closest big city is a very minor one, so any inconvenience from the actual test or the aftermath won’t really have a significant impact.
All live spectators have been banned for a 10 mile radius. You will only be able to see this on TV, which means that it will be thoroughly controlled and that there is something going on that they don’t want you to see.
T r o j a n E X P O S I T I O N, NOT demolition.
SEE: second line at top of the web page upon which we are commenting. WHO GAVE PERMISSION TO CHANGE TROJAN IN AN WAY? The Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, White WestingHouse…Hanford, were they consulted, other than to remove from Trojan, carefully, that which makes things function to assist in massive ways upon the Earth’s safety situations? Family developed plants, as an excellent investment, excellent uses. How many people working in the city-beneath-Trojan have you contacted in regards to their safety? See: web page top: Laughing Squid. Comment: kesgardholmerbrown,Lr
Safety exists as per employee comments, lives, proper testing safety regulations. Try testing the areas around the heat-dispersing Trojan plant tower; safety is there. The dispersing heat WARMS the area, where people want to live because of the WARMTH. Warmth disappears with the emplosions, replacing the expositions. Dangers? Less great danger exemplified, due to progressed safety conditions. Someone is demolishing everything that they think their “aunt owns.” New or old structures just disappear from sight.
They close I-5 and Hwy 30 so people don’t stop and get hit by
other cars gawking at the implosion. The implosion will be in
clear view of thousands camped on the east side of the Columbia
River. If someone plans on crashing a fuel ladden plane into
it, I feel sorry for the workers and news media that have been
authorized to film near the tower. Someone in a prior post was
obviously living a fantasy.
The shutdown of Trojan was probably fraudulent in the first place. All other plants like Trojan are still operating successfully. Instead the Oregon customers of PGE/Enron are payng through the nose just to satisfy envirowhackos and nti-nuclear Oregon democrats who gleefully enabled the fiasco. If still operating trojan would be the cheapest electric power on the west coast.
Yes, I live ACROSS the river from it, literally.
I5, and the north side of the columbia river were both PACKED with people and boats. Granted the police were in force for crowd control, and the Coast Guard and Sherrifs boats were patrolling the shipping lane.
Someone had a LITTLE exaduration going on.
As someone that grew up in Rainier, Oregon I can tell you exactly what is going on/went on with Trojan. The tower was imploded as part of the decommissioning process. Both I5 and Hwy 30 were closed so as to prevent onlookers from being terrified at seeing a 500 foot tower collapse right in front of them. With the thousands of people that travel down I5 on any given day, it would be impossible to inform all of them what was going to happen this morning (when the tower was imploded) so as a precaution, they closed both roads. As for the toxicity of the dust, while it probably does contain low levels of radiation, it did contain vestiges of asbestos. While PGE (the company that ownes Trojan) claims all traces of asbestos were removed from the tower several years ago, breathing any of dust could be extremely toxic. Similar to the dust after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. That is why they had the implosion so early in the morning. To minimize the on lookers. Although that did not stop my family from getting up at 6:00 in the morning to go out and watch. So that’s the FYI. No real conspiracy here. Just a poorly build and now defunct nuclear plant in a tiny Oregon town ( Rainier has approx. 1,100 people) that is still trying to recover from it.
I also grew up in Rainier but no longer live in close proximity (I now live near a REAL radioactive mess in the NW).
The only radioactivity in the cooling tower is the naturally occuring radioactive potassium in the concrete. It could no easier be traced through the atmospshere than any other dust particles. It is just too plentiful and long lived to use as a tracer.
It always amazes me how some people can get so worked up about nuclear power. Yes, it can be dangerous (although the nuclear industry is THE MOST regulated industry in this nation) but so is driving your car.
I imagine when they start dismantling the containment building that the radioactive waste will end up here. The reactor has already been shipped up here.
Ranier, Oregon, eh? Hmmm….perhaps a reference to Ranier Wolfcastle (aka McBaine) Excellent…it’s all falling into place.
People like Yellowbird could be poster children for birth control.
Just about everything has a minute about of radioactivity. To say there wouldn’t be any in the dust is playing safe for conspiracy whackos like hium/her/. Do you go camping, dear hippies? Those Coleman lanterns emit radioactivity. So do smoke alarms. People that worked at Trojan weren’t exposed to radioactivity that didn’t already exsist in everyday items.
An atom that emitted radioactivity, something they check for when workers (under seven layers of clothing) was called a “flea” because of it’s size.
They had to change the name of them because people like Yellowbird were worried animals could be “bitten by those awful radioactive fleas!”
hi i love the trojan nuclear power plant it rocks…its big nd trojanish
New Flanders when was the last time a coleman lantern or a smoke detector had a meltdown and polluted everything in a 50 mile radius? You are the one who should be a poster child for birth-control.
Just witness the implosion live!!!
Every angle of that tower was being witness by over 3000 eyes so the whole weapons training is someones overactive imagination….
-Residents living in hills behind the tower (Including live television)
-Rvs, tents, and people cover the east and west in kalama (Including live television)
-Docks, platforms, me, and boats no more than one mile away were viewing the tower up front (Including live television)
Sorry no military conspiracy
If you like an awsome video clip of over 8 diffrent camera angle (Including an inside view) then right-click and save as below:
http://www.portlandgeneral.com/about_pge/current_issues/trojan/Cooling-twr.wmv
Those who fought Trojan for years have a Website that tells its history and provides links, photos and video.
Visit it at http://www.TrojanDown.com.
another video link:
http://grouper.com/GlobalMedia/MediaDetails.aspx?id=863324
check out my myspace it rocks its alll about the trojan nuclear power plant comment me to and add me as ur frnd! i luv the trojan nuclear power plant so search “carissa vachter” in myspace to find my awesum trojan nuclear power plant myspace
Whoever wrote that aircraft garbage is taking drugs.
We were about a thousand feet up on the hill directly behind it with our cameras and took a 5 frame per second of the entire event.
Nothing unusualy there at all. Just an every day common demolition of a structure. We even captured the sequence of the charge flashes as they went off.
….Aircraft into the structure writer… you need some strong coffee !!
gb i was sitting on the same hill as you. just up the power lines. and yeah i think somebody was smoking a little crack. check out my site http://www.outtakingphotos.com
kool dood
Can I have this photo because I want this photo for my poster on global warming http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/trojan_nuke.jpg
“Did you see the map of the security area? Doesn’t it seem excessively large for a mere demolition?”
No. If you watch the videos on Youtube of the demolition you’ll clearly see concrete chunks flew for a LONG distance.
“All live spectators have been banned for a 10 mile radius. You will only be able to see this on TV, which means that it will be thoroughly controlled and that there is something going on that they don’t want you to see.”
Dude, do you even LIVE in Oregon? Blow it out your ass.