Trojan in Twilight: Trojan Artwork

Mural of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant at the Triangle Mall in Longview, Washington in August 2005.

An interesting side note about Trojan is the mural at the Triangle Mall in Longview, Washington. The Triangle Mall opened in 1964 as a cluster of several large stores, each in its own separate building. One of these stores was a Pay 'N Save drug store. Some years later, the mall's anchor stores were connected by smaller stores, the walkways between them were covered and the ends enclosed, making the Triangle Mall like a typical mall. In 2003, most of the Triangle Mall was demolished to be reconfigured as a strip-mall-like grouping of stores. The stand-alone Pay 'N Save building, now a Rite Aid, was the only part of the original mall left standing. The demolition revealed some old Pay 'N Save signage on the west wall, including a hand-painted mural depicting the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant.

Mural of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant at the Triangle Mall in Longview, Washington on September 5, 2005.

This mural cannot be original to the mall, as the mall predates the construction of Trojan by several years. It seems this was added around the time of Trojan's construction. There are a couple of interesting aspects to this mural. First, although the mural was placed in Washington, it depicts the plant as viewed from along U.S. Highway 30 in Oregon instead of as viewed from Kalama, Washington as might be expected. Second, some parts of the mural are quite accurate, such as the locations of the lights on the Cooling Tower, and the general layout of windows on the Turbine Building, while other parts, like the windows depicted in the dome of the Containment Building, are significant errors. There is also a construction crane in the background, and the Administration Building is conspicuously absent, suggesting this painting was made while the plant was still under construction in the early 1970s.

Mural of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant at the Triangle Mall in Longview, Washington on September 5, 2005.

The mural remained in place through late 2005, but by 2006 RiteAid had renovated that side of the building to install a drive-up window and generally "update" the exterior, and the Pay 'N Save signage, including the Trojan mural, were no longer visible. I don't know if the mural is still in place behind the new exterior, or if it was removed and taken somewhere else. Either way, it managed to remain in place almost as long as the real Trojan.

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