Trojan in Twilight: Epilogue

The Trojan site reopened to the public at 7:00 AM on Monday, May 22, and cleanup contractor ICONCO began cleaning up the debris. The concrete from the tower will remain onsite after being crushed into 3-inch pieces, and the steel will be recycled. Cleanup for the cooling tower implosion was scheduled to be completed in September of 2006. Demolition of the Power Block buildings continued, with a scheduled completion date in 2007, and the dome-shaped concrete Containment Building waits for its demolition in 2008. Trojan Park officially reopened Memorial Day for the summer as planned.

Trojan Central and the other office buildings on the site will remain, at least for the immediate future. Portland General Electric has not decided on any future plans for the site, although demolition of the power plant opens up several possibilities, one of which is another power plant with a different source of fuel, such as natural gas. I think this is quite likely, as PGE will not be able to leave the Trojan site for a long time. Spent nuclear fuel will be stored at the ISFSI until at least 2024, the switching station will remain in service for new PGE power plants in the area and PGE has said they will be keeping Trojan Park maintained and open to the public indefinitely. I think it only makes sense for PGE to place another major facility at this prime location that they already own and will have a stake in for years to come.

Any future development of the site will not begin for several years. Demolition of the Containment Building will likely have to be completed first, and any future use will undoubtedly have to go through numerous studies and permitting processes. However, I think it is very likely that a new facility could be in place and operating long before the cooling tower's original demolition date of 2018.

Though the plant's fate was sealed long ago, demolition has a finality to it. Many people would've liked the cooling tower to stay, but its destruction makes room for something else to take its place: something that will create jobs and build the local economy. Even though Trojan's life was cut short, it always had a finite life: it was intended to be shut down in 2011. With demolition already underway, perhaps by that time something will have already taken its place: something with permanence.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Links:
Portland General Electric
Wikipedia: Trojan Nuclear Power Plant
Trojan Wetlands
The Virtual Nuclear Tourist
Trojan at NukeWorker.com. This site also has many pictures.

This concludes the original content of my Trojan in Twilight page. To see any additional blog entries about the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, click on the Trojan label.

Trojan in Twilight: Cooling Tower Implosion

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on May 21, 2006.

A number of closures were put in place as the implosion date neared.

• Thursday, May 18, 2006 - Road to Graham Lumber in Kalama gated. Employees only.

• 5:00 PM, Friday, May 19 - Trojan Site Closed

• 9:00 PM, Saturday, May 20 - Kalama River Road Closed. Address Verification Required.

• 5:00 AM, Sunday, May 21 - Highway 30 Closed between Jack Falls Road and Neer City Road. Traffic escorted by pilot cars.

• 6:00 AM, Sunday, May 21 - Columbia River traffic stopped from river mile 70.5 to 74.5.

• 6:45 AM, Sunday, May 21 - Rolling slowdowns begin to close I-5 from mile 28 to 34.

View of Kalama, Washington, on May 21, 2006.

PGE’s media viewpoint in Kalama, Washington, May 21, 2006.

No public viewing areas were set up for the general public, and people were told that the best place to watch the implosion would be on television. PGE set up a small, media-only viewpoint across the Columbia River at the Port of Kalama for reporters and PGE employees and their families.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on May 21, 2006.

On Sunday morning, May 21, those who had a spot to watch got up early to get in place with plenty of time. My father had arranged to watch from a spot just west of the site, just outside of the roadblocks. Those who didn't have a place to watch had to settle for the television coverage, which was still pretty good.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on May 21, 2006.
(Photo by Cliff West)

At 6:58, a small warning charge was set off to scare away any birds on or near the tower. At 7:00 AM, CDI's Thom Doud set off the charges with a hand-held detonator powered by a 9 volt battery, sending an electrical pulse to trigger the non-electric blasting caps. All the charges went off in sequence within 700 milliseconds, bringing the tower crumbling to the ground in about 10 seconds.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006. (Photo by Cliff West)

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006. (Photo by Cliff West)

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006. (Photo by Cliff West)

The implosion happened very fast. When it was over, the dust cloud dissipated fairly quickly.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006. (Photo by Cliff West)

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006. (Photo by Cliff West)

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Implosion on May 21, 2006.

When the implosion was over and the dust had cleared, all that was left standing was a 50-foot-tall section of the base about 450 feet long. Almost all of the debris fell within the tower's original footprint. Trojan's cooling tower was the first such tower to be demolished in the United States, and the largest to be imploded in the world. The implosion cost $3.9 million.

View of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant site from Kalama, Washington, after the implosion on May 21, 2006.

At the end of the day, from the Kalama Sportsmen's Club, something was conspicuously missing from the view. Without the cooling tower, the rest of the power plant looks lonely.

Obviously, the media covered the event extensively. Here are some links to various news articles, photos and videos about the implosion.

The Daily News - Blast Levels Trojan in Spectacular 9-Second Show

Continue to Epilogue…

Trojan in Twilight: Cooling Tower Implosion Preparation

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Though Trojan closed in 1993, the cooling tower was not scheduled to be demolished until the year 2018, long after the plant would have closed anyway, even if it had operated to the end of its design life.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

In late 2005, Portland General Electric surprised just about everyone with the announcement that the demolition of the power plant buildings would begin in the spring, and that Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) of Phoenix, Maryland had been contracted to implode the cooling tower in May of 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

CDI is a well known demolition contractor, best known in the Pacific Northwest for the implosion of the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington on March 26, 2000.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Beginning in March of 2006, CDI began marking the tower for the 2,934 holes that would have to be drilled to place 2,792 pounds of dynamite.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

The dynamite would be placed primarily in two horizontal bands 100 feet and 250 feet up on the tower, and in each of the tower's 88 legs.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

To contain debris that might fly from the tower during the implosion, the areas with dynamite were covered with chain-link, which was then covered with a black blasting cover.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

As work progressed, PGE set the exact date and time for the implosion as 7:00 AM on Sunday, May 21, 2006, one day after the 30th anniversary of the plant starting commercial operation.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

In early May, as time ticked down, the handrails on the ladder landings and around the top of the tower were covered with orange plastic in an attempt to keep endangered Peregrine Falcons (the fastest bird species) from nesting on the tower.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower partially prepared for implosion on May 13, 2006.

Continue to Cooling Tower Implosion…

Trojan in Twilight: Cooling Tower

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

The most dominant feature by far on the Trojan site was the cooling tower. For some reason, many people don't understand the function of a cooling tower, and some even think that the tower is the power plant itself, so I will try to give an explanation of what a cooling tower is and what it does.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

Most power plants, including those that burn coal, oil and natural gas as well as nuclear plants, simply heat water to produce steam which is used to turn a steam turbine connected to a generator. This steam is then cooled in condensers back into water to be reheated. The condenser itself is cooled by water from a separate supply, which in turn is cooled in a cooling tower and cycled back through the condenser. In some cases, these cooling towers are largely mechanical in nature, which keeps the size down in relation to the rest of the power plant, but requires more electricity. The other option is to use a much larger natural draft cooling tower.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

While the general public most often associates these towers with nuclear power plants, they can be found in other applications, including power plants using other fuels, and some nuclear plants use mechanical draft cooling towers instead of natural draft.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

Trojan used a 499-foot hyperbolic natural draft cooling tower to cool the water for the condensers. A natural draft cooling tower operates entirely on the basic principle that air rises as it heats up.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

Though a natural draft cooling tower is by far the most visually impressive component of a nuclear power plant, because there is two completely separate systems between the nuclear reactor in the Containment Building and the cooling water of the condensers, the cooling tower is never exposed to any nuclear radiation or radioactive material.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

The Virtual Nuclear Tourist has a good general explanation of Cooling Towers.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

For more information on how a nuclear power plant generates electricity, Click Here.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

Trojan's cooling tower was built over the top of a water basin with a capacity of 5 million gallons. The bottom of the tower is open, to allow cool air off the Columbia River to enter the tower. Inside the tower, hot water (about 112 degrees) from the condensers was sprayed from nozzles onto cooling fins. As the drops of water dripped off these fins, the heat from the water was transferred to the cool incoming air, cooling the water to about 75 degrees. As the cooled water collected in the basin, the air rose, picking up speed as it absorbed more heat. By the time the warm air exited the top of the tower it was moving upwards at about 10 miles per hour. This air movement sucked more cool air in at the bottom of the tower, continuing the process (natural draft). Not all the water from the condensers was reclaimed in the cooling process. About 11,000 gallons of water was lost to evaporation per minute, joining with the rising hot air as water vapor to form the cloud-like plume seen coming from the top of the tower when the plant was operating. Water from the Columbia River was taken in to make up for the water lost to evaporation.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

Trojan's cooling tower was completed in May 1972, and consisted of 41,000 tons of concrete and steel. The tower's hyperbolic shape was designed to provide structural strength and speed vertical airflow. The diameter at the base measured 385 feet and the walls were 45 inches thick. At the top of the 499-foot height, the diameter was 250 feet, and the walls were 18 inches thick. At the tower's narrowest point, about 2/3 of the way up, the diameter was 232 feet and the walls were 10 inches thick.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower on April 22, 2006.

The cooling tower was 499 feet tall; if it were any taller, it would have had to be painted with red & white stripes. As it was, the tower had to have a number of lights in place. Red lights were placed at the top of the tower and at 3 other elevations spaced equally up the side of the tower. At each elevation, a light faced in each direction.  Starting at the bottom, the red lights at the first and third row were on constantly.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Lights at night on May 13, 2006.

The red lights on the other two levels (the middle of the tower and the top) oscillated on and off, all at the same time, at a period of about every three seconds.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Lights at night on May 13, 2006.

Additionally, white strobes were also mounted at the top of the tower, halfway between the red lights around the perimeter. The white strobes flashed about 40 times a minute, though they did not seem to be synchronized with the red lights in any way.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Lights at night on May 13, 2006.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower Lights at Night

The cooling tower would have been the tallest building in Oregon when completed in May 1972, however Portland's 546-foot First National Bank Tower (now Wells Fargo Center) was completed the same month. Since then, Portland's 536-foot U.S. Bancorp Tower and 509-foot KOIN Center have also topped the cooling tower's height. The following table shows how Trojan's cooling tower compared to other tall structures locally and around the world.

Building	Location	Height
Astoria Column	Astoria, Oregon	125'
Union Station Clock Tower	Portland, Oregon	150'
Great Northern Railway Depot Clock Tower	Spokane, Washington	157'
Arc de Triomphe	Paris, France	165'
Leaning Tower of Pisa	Pisa, Italy	180'
Coit Tower	San Francisco, California	210'
King Street Station Clock Tower	Seattle, Washington	242'
Statue of Liberty (with pedestal & base)	New York City, New York	305'
Palace of Westminster Clock Tower (Big Ben)	London, England	316'
Lewis & Clark Bridge	Rainier, Oregon	340'
Fremont Bridge	Portland, Oregon	381'
St. John's Bridge Towers	Portland, Oregon	408'
Great Pyramid of Khufu	Giza, Egypt	481'
Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Tower	Rainier, Oregon	499'
KOIN Center	Portland, Oregon	509'
U.S. Bancorp Tower	Portland, Oregon	536'
Wells Fargo Center	Portland, Oregon	546'
Washington Monument	Washington, D.C.	555'
Space Needle	Seattle, Washington	605'
Gateway Arch	St. Louis, Missouri	630'
Golden Gate Bridge Towers	San Francisco, California	746'
TransAmerica Pyramid	San Francisco, California	853'
Eiffel Tower (with antenna)	Paris, France	1,058'
Empire State Building (with antenna)	New York City, New York	1,472'
Willis Tower (with antennas)	Chicago, Illinois	1,729'
CN Tower	Toronto, Canada	1,815'

Trojan's cooling tower was not the tallest in the world, or even in the United States (though it did become the largest in the world to ever be imploded). The world's tallest natural draft cooling tower is at the coal-fired Niederaussem Power Plant in Bergheim, Germany. It is 656 feet tall, 500 feet in diameter at its base, and 290 feet in diameter at its narrowest point. The Niederaussem cooling tower is as wide at its base as the Trojan tower was tall. Cooling towers in the United States that were taller than Trojan's include those at the Limerick Generating Station at Saratoga, Pennsylvania (507 feet), the Salem Nuclear Generating Station in Hancocks Bridge, New Jersey (512 feet), the Harris Nuclear Power Plant in New Hill, North Carolina (525 feet), and the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station at Scriba, New York (543 feet).

Continue to Cooling Tower Implosion Preparation…