The Trojan Cooling Tower Implosion

One big piece of news over the weekend was the long-planned demolition of the cooling tower at Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Oregon. Click here for video from the local NBC affiliate. I'm not exactly surprised at all the interest, as our own experience with online video here at NEI seems to suggest that folks like watching stuff explode -- or implode, in this case.

One of my colleagues, Trish Conrad, was on the scene to get some equal time in the media for the pro-nuclear message amidst a sea of anti-nuke hysteria. Here's a note she sent me last night:

I did taped interviews with the local NBC and CBS affiliates re: the Trojan cooling tower implosion shortly after an anti rally concluded in downtown Portland. I broke the ice by talking about being from here before we started rolling. Thought it might give me more credibility since I didn't know these people. Started off with the numbers about support nationally and by existing facilities. The reporter made a comment about it being a Republican issue, so I said nuclear power is not a Republican or Democrat issue, gave the Energy Policy Act bite about comprehensive legislation and bipartisan support, and segued into Stewart Brand and Patrick Moore. Did the usual stuff about why the resurgence in nuclear power. They asked about used fuel and Yucca Mountain and I told them we have stored it safely for years, progress is being made on Yucca Mountain and mentioned the legislation currently in Congress, but noted that we are looking to an integrated used fuel management system of which Yucca Mountain is only one component...

Talked about possible new plants here and shared information about the potential COL's on tap and that new plants could be online in 2014 or 2015. After taping, I gave them some background on what's happening abroad and explained the reprocessing issues to them, and noted that nuclear power in WA, CA and AZ takes pressure off sources upon which the NW relies...

My favorite part thing about the opponent's messages was their mixed nature - the cooling tower coming down is a victory, but we wanted to leave it up as a reminder of the failure of nuclear power. Typical.

Here's another in person account of the implosion. And finally, here's an account from the Washington Post.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Electricity, Environment, Energy, Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, Oregon