Unending problems shut down Troian permanently
PORTLAND IAP)
— The Trojan nucle
ar plan! was shut
mn\n j m’i I i i (111 1111 y
Monday, thr«»«* years
ahead of schedule,
lannuse of continuing problems in the
sit?(irn generating system
The plant, on the Columbia River
about -til miles northwest of Portland,
has Imsoi i losed situ o Nov o
The hoard of diroi tots of Portland
(.enerol Klee tru; Go.. the plant's operator,
voted unanimnusly Monday not to re
open the plant AIkjiiI 700 ol the plant's
l.:t()0 workers will lie laid off by the end
of the year.
"To those people. I d like to express
my personal sadness that we i ould not
find another alternative to this solution.
I’t.l chairman hen Harrison said at a
new s i onfereru e
Workers were told of the dei ision
Monday afternoon
"None nl US really believed it would
i mm' to that engineer Mary fane Koss
said "So some of ns were pretty
shot ked It's kind ol a tough way to
start tile year
About 200 temporary and contract
workers with less than one year of ser
ve e will lose their jotis by the end of Jan
uary
In August. P(d illinium ed that the I 1
million kilowatt plant would close per
manently hi toon fee ause of mu rosi op
e ( racks in the steam generator tubes
"Based on now information and
events, w»- are act derating the dw ision
we made in August to phase out Trojan,
Harrison said
Harrison said the decision was liased
on ei onomir s
"We Imlieve the plant t an operate safe
ly again," Harrison said al a news confer
etu e "It s the cost associated witli that
option that has driven tins din ision
The utility cited the recent disclosure
of disagreement among government si t
enttsts over Trojan's safety Niu fear Keg
ulatory Commission rfo< uments showed
the ( bailees of a ion1 meltdown at the
plant could lie 't(K) tunes greater than
permitted under government safety
goals
The plant was shut down two mouths
ago after a crar ked tube led to the release
of traces of two radioactive gases
krypton and xenon into the atmos
phere.
Questions about tin* plant's safety
"thrust tin* company into an environ
ment of uncertainty which will translate
into higher i osts and less operating
availability." tin* utility said
"Closing Trojan now is the least-cost
decision given all available informn
lion.'' Harrison said. It is the l»*st dec.i
sion for our customers, shareholder* and
Oregonians "
Harrison estimated $4(1 million to $00
million will In- saved hy closing Trojan
early. The cost of decommissioning the
plant is estimated at $400 million to
$500 million. Harrison said
Harrison said the utility would not ask
for any more rate ini reuses associated
with the shutdown unless then* are dras
tic changes in the supply of power from
other sources
ltd' already has filial a request with
the stale to re< over the < ost of replai mg
power from the plant The Public Utility
Commission has not ruled on that re
quest ltd. esl i mates it has tost $200,000
to $400,000 [»*r ilas to replai e the [tower
lost from Trojan
Replacement power *.vd! he pun hosed
primarily from utilities in Southern ( ah
forma and Hntish ( olumhia. Harrison
said Tie* continuing ooonomii slump in
Southern California has made additional
[lower available there he said.
ltd plans to sue \Yi simghouse f its
trie ( o . the plant s munufai hirer, to re
(over at least some of the i ost of replai
mg the eliHtricit) and the shutdown.
Harrison said
Voters in Novendter r**|iH ted two ballot
measures that would have dosed the
plant Sunday
Creg To/iaii, a sponsor of one of the
ballot measures, said he was elated
that tin* plant would not reojwm
"It s unsafe it s unnecessary it’s un
ei onornti al. he said
"It's unfortunaie that we had to spend
$2 million in the ele< lion to get this
done." Tacian said I’CI s|M*nt $5 mil
lion We i mild have ail saved a lot of
money
Harrison said ( onditions have ( hanged
smi e KiK fought the lull lot measures
"Obviously if we'd had a crystal hall,
we wouldn’t have done that." he said
Tropin, Oregon's only tommen ial nti
i tear generating plant, was completed in
May 1070 at a i ost of $400 million and
was designed to last 40 years In its first
year, it produr«*d more power than any
other i ommeri ial nui tear plant in the
nation
The plant has an annual operating
budget of alxiul $200 million and can
generate enough elm tricity to serve
ooo.ooo to 700,000 residential custom
ers.
The plant was i losed lor the first time
in 107K after the NKC discovered the
plant's ( ontrol center did not conform to
earthquake standards. That same year,
two workers received radiation doses
five times the federal limit, the largest at
a U S commercial nut lear plant
In l‘(K0. the first of three ballot mens
ures to i lose Trojan failed Another
Pho»o t>y Sf'f'vju*
The Troian nuclear power plant shut down permanently Monday because of
persistent problems with the steam generator system.
measure wus defeated m 1990.
Problems with staam generator tubes
,md cUh trii seals fori eci a year-long out
age in 1‘t‘il l‘(,L denied rumors of a per
manent ( Insure at that tune hut said re
pair insts could reach $125 million A
sear later, federal dot uinents indii ated
the plant may not lie capable of with
standing a serious earthquake.
ltd holds (>7 5 pert trill ownership of
the plant Another 10 percent is owned
h\ the Kugene Water and Kits trie Board,
whit h has turned over control of its
share to the Bonneville Bower Adminis
tration The remaining 2.5 percent is
owned by Bai ifii Power K Light (io
Over the next month, ltd. will remove
the 1*11 radioactive fuel rods from the re
altor core and transfer them to the spent
fuel pool, where aliout 500 rods already
are ston*d. 11,K spokesman Steve Sautter
said.
ll will take about four years for the
rods being removed from the ( ore to cool
enough to he moved elsewhere Howev
er. the federal government has yet to es
tablish a permanent disposal site for
spent radioactive fuel.
Harrison urged that those who sought
the plant's shutdown and the utility
"work together to pressure the federal
government" to establish a permanent
disposal site
P(.K will apply to the NRC for a non
operating permit that will allow it to
keep the plant idle.
Phil Johnson, a spokesman for the
NRC in Walnut (.reek. Calif., said the
agency had lieen informed of the deci
sion not to restart the plant.
"I don't think we have anything to sav
at this point," he said.
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