Tower of power

Next Sunday will mark the end of one of southern Washington’s most infamous landmarks. With the aid of 3,300 sticks of dynamite, the cooling tower designed to withstand any sort of natural disaster, will crumble in less than 20 seconds. While there is officially no danger of the demolition releasing any radiation, the Trojan plant represents to many Northwesterners the trials and fears surrounding nuclear energy. We stopped by to see how, with its sentence confirmed, the cooling tank was holding up.

Hey Buddy, any last words?

Um – How about “you’ve got the wrong guy.” Chernobyl is over there.

 

Clearly you’re no Chernobyl, but do you think that it’s reasonable to label you a risk?

A risk to what? To the thousands of families who visit me annually? To the poets and painters who use me as a sounding block and an inspiration? Or a risk to lawmakers who fear they may have to continue the dialogue about Washington State’s blundering foray into nuclear field?

 

You seem a little bitter.

I am. Chernobyl is still killing, 20 years later. That stupid sarcophagus they built around Reactor Four is leaking. All I did was cause shutdowns. I could be repaired. I withstood almost 20 years of abuse and protest while providing for your energy grid. What does Chernobyl get? A $1.1 billion project. What do I get? The shaft.

It’s not my fault the state of Washington failed in its bid to bring five plants to the state, of which just one is producing. It’s not my fault those never-built plants caused a $2.5 billion bond default which Washingtonians will be paying for until 2024. I wasn’t even a part of that project. I didn’t waste all that money.

 

Still, it would have cost an extraordinary amount – too much – to repair the problems with you. Oregonians are still troubled by the fact that the payback for PGE’s investment in you is still coming out of their pockets – at a rate of $30 million a year.

I’m not any happier with PGE than you are. They left me high and dry. Sure, there’s still waste here, but what good is demolishing me? And next year the plant itself. People won’t just forget us.

 

I don’t think it’s a matter of forgetting you. Protests didn’t ever die down – instead they grew. People are afraid of nuclear energy. They’re afraid of what damage it can do.

But it’s not as if nuclear energy is no longer an option. There’s a lot of profit to be made here. There are at least a dozen more plants in development right now. Oil is running out, solar is a pipe dream, you need what we in the field have to offer and you know it. Certainly there’s risk but don’t think that the industry doesn’t care about the people it could affect. We care, I care, and we know who’s around us and whom we’re responsible for.

 

So are you going to miss Rainier?

The beer or the mountain?

 

The small Oregon town just around the corner from you. The first victims if something at Trojan were to go wrong. Clearly you must know Rainier.

Oh, I never really had the chance to get to know Rainier. I think we had some employees from there. Sorta backwoodsy right?