Trojan Nuclear Power Plant

Nuclear power plant in Oregon, US

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was a pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant (Westinghouse design) in the northwest United States, located southeast of Rainier, Oregon, and so far, the only commercial nuclear power plant to be built in Oregon. There was much public opposition to the plant from the design stage. The three main opposition groups were the Trojan Decommissioning Alliance, Forelaws on the Board, and Mothers for Peace. There were largely non violent protests from 1977, and subsequent arrests of participants. The plant was connected to the grid in December 1975. After 16 years of irregular service, the plant was closed permanently in 1992 by its operator, Portland General Electric (PGE), after cracks were discovered in the steam generator tubing. Decommissioning and demolition of the plant began the following year and was largely completed in 2006. While operating, Trojan represented more than 12% of the electrical generation capacity of Oregon. The site lies about 12 mile (19 km) north of St. Helens, on the west (south) bank of the Columbia River.

The spent fuel was transferred from cooling pools to 34 concrete and steel storage casks in 2003. In 2005, the reactor vessel and other radioactive equipment were removed from the Trojan plant, encased in concrete foam, shrink wrapped, and transported intact by barge along the Columbia River to Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, 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. It was awaiting transport to the Yucca Mountain Repository until that project was canceled in 2009. The iconic 499 feet (152 m) cooling tower, visible from Interstate 5 in Washington and U. S. Route 30 in Oregon, was demolished in 2006 via dynamite implosion at 7:00 a. m. PDT on Sunday, May 21. This event marked the first implosion of a cooling tower at a nuclear plant in the United States. 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 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. A number of the civil defence 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 of Longview, Kelso, and Kalama. Some of the other sirens, which have been removed, have been repurposed as tsunami warning sirens along the Oregon coast. 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.

Trojan Heliport was a 60 x 60 ft. (18 x 18 m) private turf heliport located at the power plant. It is no longer listed in the FAA website.

The China Syndrome: According to behind the scenes interviews, producer Michael Douglas and production designer George C. Jenkins toured the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant and were allowed to take extensive photographs of the control room. The iconic control room set built at Sunset Gower Studios was largely based on these photographs.