Shutdown Nuclear Plants of the Pacific Northwest

Trojan and Satsop - Shutdown Pacific Northwest Reactors

Portland General Electric started up the Trojan 1095 MWe 4 Loop Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor in May 1976. The reactor operated until November 1992, when the facility was shutdown due to the cost associated with replacing the 4 steam generators. In the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), hydro power dominates the energy supply as shown by the Energy Information Administration references.

The Trojan site is being decommissioned. In August , the Trojan reactor vessel was moved for final disposal at a US Ecology storage site near the Tri-Cities on the Hanford facility. Photos showing the trip are provided on the site. US Ecology maintains the disposal facility and provides a guided tour of the steps involved in transporting and disposing of the reactor vessel.

Any of the pictures on this page can be opened to a larger size photo.

In the 70's, the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), an organization created by the 70+ public utility districts of Washington state started a project to build 5 reactors. WNP 3 and WNP 5, Combustion Engineering 1240 MWe PWRs, were to be built at Satsop, Washington, about 25 miles west of Olympia, the capital. Construction started, however, in the mid 80's the utility had severe cost overruns and defaulted on some bonds. The Satsop reactors were cancelled. The photos below show the current status. The facility is currently undergoing a transition to an industrial park. Safeharbor.com is the first high tech company to occupy Satsop Development Park, a 440-acre business park on the site.

A number of simplified diagrams illustrating the the design of both the Trojan and Satsop pressurized water reactors are provided on the PWR Cycle page.