Trojan closure stuns workers
RAINIER (AP) — The decision to permanently
( lose the Trojan nuclear plant took main employ
ees by surprise, but they continuer! to strongly
defend the safety of the state's only nu< lear plant
"None of us really believed it would come to
that." said engineer Mary Jane Ross "So some of
us were pretty shocked. It's kind of a tough yv.iy
to start out the new year."
Reactor operator Joseph Taylor, to. was at the
plant when the announcement rsas made to work
ers.
"After the announcement, people still went
about their jobs, making sure everything rsas
done." said Taylor, who is also Rainier's mayor
"1 was impressed with their attitude These
people .ire trying to bring home a paycheck for
their families," he said.
Taylor believes the plant is safe but Portland
General Elec trie, the plant s operator, finally gave
in to the costs of the lengthy shutdow n
"I work at the plant, my family lives in Rainier
five miles from it 1 believe it's safe, lavlor said
"But it became a battle of time You can't shut it
down lor two months and expect it to survive
economically "
Adam Bless, -It), ins pec ted safety at the plant
for the Oregon Department of Energy for the past
three-and-a-half y ears
"The dec ision came as much of a surprise to
me as the other plant staff." he said
‘It’s a shock to everybody,
there's a lot of sad faces. It's
soon going to be a ghost town
out here.'
Jack Jones,
PGE contractor
"We think they've (lone a good job with resp«>< t
to safety. hut now wo know that it < ml thorn a lot
of monovhe said
"You can't know when ttm plant might hr
down, it's too unprodii table." hr s.nd "I think
that's what got I’CK. not just thr cost hut the till
certainty
Construction worker jack lours said I’Ch sup
plied most of his yearly income with contrail
work sinc e I ro|<tn opened in t't7T>
It s a shoe k to everytxtdv. there- s a lot ot sad
faces." said (ones. 4 1 It s soon going to hr a
ghost town out here "
"We re just going from hour to hour, he said
Maybe they'll tell me not to come in tomorrow
or nmytie it w ill take a i ouple of weeks
Trojan’s spent fuel
lacks storage facility
RAINIER IAI’) — Oi»> of
the first steps toward decom
missioning the Trojan niic.le
«r plant will In* removing the
reactor's spent fuel rials But
it's not clear what will then
happen to the highly radio
active material
The federal government
has vet to establish a site in
the United States for perma
nently storing radioactive
spent fuel rods stii h as those
in plai e at Trojan
Work will begin this
month to remove Trojan's
101 fuel roils front the reat
tor core and transfer them to
the spent fuel pool, where
about MM) rials already are
stored. Portland Cloneral
Kleitrii spokesman Steve
Sautter said Monday
It will take about four
years from the time the rials
are removed from the < ore to
lie cool enough to la* moved
elsewhere. Sautter satu.
Whore thov might be perma
nently stored is unknown
since no such facility cur
rently exists in the United
States.
Seventeen sites have been
solix led for study ns u possi
ble storage dump for rndio
a< live spent fuel rods, most
on Indian-owned land in
Oklahoma. Utah and Alaska
Minnesota. South Dakota,
New Mexico. Arizona and
Washington state ear h have
one reservation targeted as
potential radioactive storage
sites
The government is seeking
sparsely populated land to
store spent nut lear fuel rods
from real tors for several
decades after which the ra
dioactivu waste would be
shipped to a permanent
waste dump planned at Yuc
i a Mountain in Nevada
Community ponders
affects of shut down
RAIN IKK (AP) • Business owners belies e their town will lie ei o
nomirulh devastated now that Troian, the nuclear powerhouse
that fed them, is permanentK shut down But the\ refuse to shut
down their hopes for the future along with it
'It's tough sledding and it's going to get tougher," said juilene
U'uollet. t1), who owns Interstate Tavern, one of the town's 4(> bus
blesses
“Tve laid off everyone except one employee and I'm working
user 100 hours a week just to keep atlo.it she said of her estsb
lishment near the only traffic light in town. She estimated Troian
employees aci mint for -!0 percent of her profits
I don't know what the future is going to bring tins little town of
Rainier,'' she said "I tear it's going to be< ome a little ghost tow n
The town of 1.700 started as a lumber community, but the last of
three nearby mills closed 10 years ago. leaving the nuclear plant
the area's dominant employer
Trojan s operator, Portland General Kle< tru Co. has paid $40
million to $T>0 million a year to the plant's l goo employees, said
spokesman Steve Sautter
PGK also pays 70 percent of the property taxes that support the
R.nmt'r Sc hool Distric t and tFit
Rainier Rural l ire Department
"We don't know vet what the
new pro pert v value of a shut
down Trojan w ill Ian" said One
Carlson. superintendent of the
school distric t Carlson added
that It) percent of the children
in the distric t have parents
working at (lie plant
Mayor lames Taylor said KM)
of the plant's employees live- in
Rainier They're among the* fx-st
paid citizens, fie said, and they
spend their money in lot al
stores
"1 use the attorney in town,
the barber shop, the grocery
shop," said Taylor, who also is
‘It’s hard already
for businesses here
to keep abreast
and have a goat it.
The shutdown will
have a real
economic impact:
Some will go
under.’
Jewel Villager,
Rainier merchant
a nuclear operator at Trojan.
'It's Wind of disheartening." he said "You work really hard to
make this community work and then the major employer de< ides
to close down their plant
Paul Plain 4H. owner of M R. Sales furniture store, said the
plant's closure took the town by surprise
"It was a shock to hear Trojan was i losing after they just !tough!
a refrigerator and four microwaves the other day." Plain said, "hut
our store will still he here "
Gene Elder. 62. owner of Luigi’s Pizza, said Trojan employees of
ten i all him in the morning asking for up to 60 pies for lunchtime
The establishment scrambles to deliver the pizzas on time to the
isolated plant, about three miles away
Elder hopes the crew of several hundred left behind to decnm
mission Trojan will continue to phone in orders "I guess we just
got to keep making good pizzas and sell more.” he said
Folded into the hills beside the Columbia River, the town is
overshadowed by the larger towns of St Helens, which is 17 miles
away, and Longview. Wash . across the river In between are Mat
tered houses and woods.
"We re little and caught in the middle." said Linda Lopossa. 42.
who owns Karol Lee's Beauty Shop "It's hard already for business
es here to keep abreast and have a go at it The shutdown will have
a real economic impact: Some will go under
"Every spring our business doubles when Trojan shuts down for
maintenance and brings in contractors to do repair work." added
hairdresser Cinda Mevers. 33.
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