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92-455: The plant was connected to the grid in December 1975. After 16 years of irregular service, the plant was closed permanently in 1992 by its operator, Portland General Electric (PGE), after cracks were discovered in the steam-generator tubing. Decommissioning and demolition of the plant began the following year and was largely completed in 2006. While operating, Trojan represented more than 12% of

184-583: A high-level waste repository . The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future , established by the Secretary of Energy , released its final report in January 2012. It detailed an urgent need to find a site suitable for constructing a consolidated geological repository, stating that any future facility should be developed by a new independent organization with direct access to the Nuclear Waste Fund , which

276-602: A public utility district in PGE's territory. The Columbia Valley Authority project would have allowed CVA to purchase utilities such as PGE. PGE survived bankruptcy partially through cheap power purchases from BPA beginning in the fall of 1939, and by the end of 1941 they showed net profits. In the meantime, Ormond R. Bean , the Oregon Public Utility Commissioner , forced PGE to lower its rates. Ultimately, PEPCO and PGE were saved by World War II , which led to

368-569: A strike by 900 union workers, effective March 8, 2004, represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers . Points over which the negotiations broke down included retiree medical benefits as well as losses of the members' 401(k) plan. This labor dispute was resolved shortly afterward, and the union agreed to a new contract. The TPG purchase offer was denied by the Oregon Public Utility Commission ,

460-408: A $ 50 million deposit on the sale. The same day, Governor Ted Kulongoski vetoed a bill that would create a public corporation to purchase PGE. In April 2006, shares in a newly independent PGE were issued as part of an Enron distribution to its creditors. Source for section: PGE has been ranked first for 14 years by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory for

552-459: A CT head or chest scan results in around 1,110 mrem. Annually, in the United States, an individual's dose from background radiation is about 350 mrem, though some places get more than twice that. On February 12, 2002, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham deemed this site suitable as the nation's nuclear repository. The governor of Nevada had 90 days to object and did so, but Congress overrode

644-602: A DOE appropriations bill. On May 20, 2020, Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes testified in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that President Trump strongly opposes proceeding with the Yucca Mountain Repository. In May 2021, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that Yucca Mountain would not be part of the Biden administration's plans for nuclear-waste disposal. She anticipated announcing

736-567: A contractor exempt from state regulation. Voter distrust of both Enron and PGE was severe enough for voters to approve the measure, despite $ 71,592 being spent in advertisements to oppose it, in comparison to the $ 2,304 spent by supporters. This resulted in those three cities becoming part of the Columbia River PUD on terms far more favorable to the customers; electricity rates immediately dropped in these cities, and remain lower than those for current PGE customers. Concerned by uncertainty that

828-693: A federally licensed geologic disposal facility, having served in that role as the scientific advisor to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico ." Sandia began acting as the lead laboratory on October 1, 2006. Because of questions raised by the State of Nevada and congressional members about the quality of the science behind the Yucca Mountain Project, the DOE announced on March 31, 2006,

920-482: A high level of expertise and credibility as they move the project forward ... This award gives DOE access to academic and research institutions to help DOE meet their mission and legal obligation to license, construct, and open Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository for spent nuclear fuel." There was significant public and political opposition to the project in Nevada. An attempt was made to push ahead with it and override

1012-519: A limit of 15 millirem per year to a reasonably maximally exposed individual, who would be among the most highly exposed members of the public. The groundwater protection standard is consistent with the EPA Safe Drinking Water Act standards, which the Agency applies in many situations as a pollution prevention measure. The disposal standards were to apply for 10,000 years after the facility

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1104-506: A limit of 350 millirem per year for that period. In October 2007, the DOE issued a draft of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement showing that for the first 10,000 years, mean public dose would be 0.24 mrem/year and that thereafter the median public dose would be 0.98 mrem/year, both of which are substantially below the proposed EPA limit. For comparison, a hip X-ray results in a dose around 83 mrem and

1196-401: A position to greatly affect the future of the project. Reid said he would continue to work to block completion of the project, and is quoted as having said, "Yucca Mountain is dead. It'll never happen." In the 2008 Omnibus Spending Bill, the Yucca Mountain Project's budget was reduced to $ 390 million. The project was able to reallocate resources and delay transportation expenditures to complete

1288-562: A potential disaster. The EPA established its Yucca Mountain standards in June 2001. The storage standard set a dose limit of 15 millirem per year for the public outside the Yucca Mountain site. The disposal standards consisted of three components: an individual dose standard, a standard evaluating the impacts of human intrusion into the repository, and a groundwater protection standard. The individual-protection and human intrusion standards set

1380-467: A storage pad where spent radioactive fuel canisters would be cooled before being sealed in a maze of tunnels. The discovery required several structures to be moved several hundred feet further to the east, and drew criticism from Robert R. Loux, then head of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects , who argues that Yucca administrators should have known about the fault line's location years prior, and called

1472-580: A three-member regulatory board, on March 10, 2005. With the rejection of the Texas Pacific Group's offer, the City of Portland announced it contacted Enron to resume negotiating an offer to purchase PGE. On April 19, 2005, Portland city officials announced that they were willing to spend $ 7.5 million in attorneys' fees to buy the utility. On July 6, the City Council unanimously adopted a measure to finance

1564-539: Is a federal law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act , which made the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) responsible for finding a site, building, and operating an underground disposal facility called a geologic repository . The recommendation to use a geologic repository dates to 1957, when the National Academy of Sciences recommended that the best way to protect the environment and public health and safety

1656-491: Is closed. Dose assessments were to continue beyond 10,000 years and be placed in DOE's Environmental Impact Statement , but were not subject to a compliance standard. The 10,000-year period for compliance assessment is consistent with EPA's generally applicable standards developed under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act . It also reflects international guidance regarding the level of confidence that can be placed in numerical projections over very long periods of time. Shortly after

1748-415: Is expected that demolition of the plant will cost approximately $ 230 million, which includes the termination of the plant possession-only license, conventional demolition of the building and continuing cost for storage of used nuclear fuel. A number of the civil defence sirens that were originally installed within a 10-mile (16 km) radius of Trojan, to warn of an incident at the plant that could endanger

1840-496: Is not subject to budget rules and allows Congress to ignore the nuclear waste issue since payments therefrom do not have any impact on yearly spending for other programs. The purpose of the Yucca Mountain project is to comply with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and develop a national site for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste storage. The management and operating contractor as of April 1, 2009 for

1932-518: Is not subject to political and financial control as the Cabinet -level DOE is. But the site met with strong opposition in Nevada, including from then-Senate leader Harry Reid . Under President Donald Trump , the DOE ceased deep borehole and other non-Yucca Mountain waste disposition research activities. For FY 18, the DOE requested $ 120 million and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) $ 30 million from Congress to continue licensing activities for

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2024-423: Is protection at the level of the most stringent radiation regulations in the U.S. today. From 10,000 to one million years, EPA established a dose limit of 100 millirem per year. EPA's rule requires DOE to show that Yucca Mountain can safely contain wastes, considering the effects of earthquakes, volcanic activity , climate change , and container corrosion , over one million years. The current analysis indicates that

2116-583: Is regulated by the Oregon Public Utility Commission . Founded in 1888 as the Willamette Falls Electric Company , the company has been an independent company for most of its existence, though was briefly owned by the Houston -based Enron Corporation from 1997 until 2006, almost 20 years ago, when Enron divested itself of PGE during its bankruptcy. Notably, PGE does not serve all of Portland. Its service territory comprises most of Portland west of

2208-463: Is to dispose of the waste in rock deep underground. The DOE began studying Yucca Mountain in 1978 to determine whether it would be suitable for the nation's first long-term geologic repository for over 70,000 metric tons (69,000 long tons; 77,000 short tons) (150 million pounds) of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste as of 2015 stored at 121 sites around the nation. An estimated 10,000 metric tons (9,800 long tons; 11,000 short tons) of

2300-439: Is widely opposed in Nevada and is a hotly debated national topic. A two-thirds majority of Nevadans believe it is unfair for their state to have to store nuclear waste when there are no nuclear power plants in Nevada. Many Nevadans' opposition stemmed from the so-called "Screw Nevada Bill," the 1987 legislation halting study of Hanford and Texas as potential sites for the waste before conclusions could be made. The county containing

2392-600: The Obama administration . The project has encountered many difficulties and was highly contested by the public, the Western Shoshone peoples, and many politicians. The project also faces strong state and regional opposition. The Government Accountability Office stated that the closure was for political, not technical or safety reasons. This leaves the United States government (which disposes of its transuranic waste from nuclear weapons production 2,150 feet (660 m) below

2484-652: The Willamette River , sharing most of the city east of the river with Pacific Power . PGE holds a mix of generation and storage facilities including hydropower, wind, solar, battery storage and thermal, as well as key transmission resources. The company’s power plants have a combined generating capacity of more than 3,300 megawatts. Following the Oregon House Bill 2021, which introduced new decarbonization goals, PGE announced to reduce emissions from its retail power supply by 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2040. The utility

2576-723: The World Trade Center complex that comprises PGE's corporate offices. In addition Timothy Belden , head of the West Coast Trading Desk and John Forney, an energy trader who invented various electricity trading strategies such as the Death Star , operated from the trading floor in the PGE corporate offices and were also convicted of financial crimes related to the California Electricity Crisis . Ballot measures have been filed by citizens several times since

2668-406: The 10,000-year regulatory compliance period. Rises in the water table caused by seismic activity would be, at most, a few tens of meters and would not reach the repository. The fractured and faulted volcanic tuff that Yucca Mountain comprises reflects the occurrence of many earthquake-faulting and strong ground motion events during the last several million years, and the hydrological characteristics of

2760-545: The 1960s to convert some or all of PGE into a public utility district (PUD), the latest of these being in 2003. Most were unsuccessful, but an exception was in 1999, when PGE announced it was selling its customer base in St. Helens , Scappoose , and Columbia City to West Oregon Electric PUD for $ 7.9 million. The terms of this sale proposed to leave the physical assets of the distribution system —the poles, wires and other components— owned by Enron , who would then manage this system as

2852-555: The DOE proposed March 31, 2017, as the date to open the facility and begin accepting waste based on full funding. On September 8, 2006, Bush nominated Ward (Edward) Sproat, a nuclear industry executive formerly of PECO energy in Pennsylvania, to lead the Yucca Mountain Project. Following the 2006 midterm congressional elections, Harry Reid , a longtime opponent of the repository, became the Senate Majority Leader , putting him in

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2944-417: The DOE to take the next step in establishing a safe repository in which to store nuclear waste. The DOE was to begin accepting spent fuel at the Yucca Mountain Repository by January 31, 1998, but did not do so because of a series of delays due to legal challenges, concerns over how to transport nuclear waste to the facility, and political pressure resulting in underfunding of the construction. On July 18, 2006,

3036-619: The DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) released a report confirming the technical soundness of infiltration modeling work performed by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employees. In March 2006, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Majority Staff issued a 25-page white paper , "Yucca Mountain: The Most Studied Real Estate on the Planet." The conclusions were: On January 18, 2006, DOE OCRWM announced that it would designate Sandia National Laboratories as its lead laboratory to integrate repository science work for

3128-581: The EPA first established these standards in 2001, the nuclear industry, several environmental and public interest groups, and the State of Nevada challenged the standards in court. In July 2004, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found in favor of the EPA on all counts except one: the 10,000 year regulatory time frame. The court ruled that EPA's 10,000-year compliance period for isolation of radioactive waste

3220-466: The Enron bankruptcy would bring, several local governments began investigation into acquiring PGE by condemnation . These studies ended after the announcement on November 17, 2003, that a group called Oregon Electric Utility, led by former governor Neil Goldschmidt and backed by Texas Pacific Group , offered to buy PGE for $ 2.35 billion. This was the sole bid received by the bankruptcy judge, who approved

3312-640: The License Application for submission on June 3, 2008. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to abandon the project. After his election, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Obama he did not have the ability to do so. On April 23, 2009, Lindsey Graham and eight other U.S. senators introduced legislation to provide "rebates" from a $ 30 billion federally managed fund into which nuclear power plants had been paying, so as to refund all collected funds if Congress canceled

3404-447: The Nuclear Waste Policy Act and directed DOE to study only Yucca Mountain, which is adjacent to the former nuclear test site. The Act provided that if during site characterization Yucca Mountain was found unsuitable, studies would stop immediately. This option expired when Reagan actually recommended the site. On July 23, 2002, President George W. Bush signed House Joint Resolution 87 ( Pub. L.   107–200 (text) (PDF) ), allowing

3496-679: The Portland General Electric Company. It was funded by General Electric and the investment arm of Old Colony Trust , with $ 4.25 million in capital. The newly formed PGE Company purchased Willamette Falls Electric and the Albina Light & Water Company in 1892. Less than a year later, in May 1893, PGE purchased the City-Eastside Electric Light Plant, a municipal power company. E. Kimbark MacColl, who chronicled

3588-615: The Trojan plant failed 35.7% yes to 64.3% no. This proposal was resubmitted in 1990, and again in 1992 when a similar proposal (by Jerry and Marilyn Wilson) to close the plant was also included. Each measure was soundly defeated by vote margins over 210,000 votes. Although all closure proposals were defeated, the plant operators committed to successively earlier closure dates for the plant. In 1992, PGE spent $ 4.5 million to successfully defeat ballot measures seeking to close Trojan immediately, rather than within four years, as PGE had planned. At

3680-406: The U.S. Federal Register a final rule in 2009. The rule limits radiation doses from Yucca Mountain for up to 1,000,000 years after it closes. Within that regulatory time frame, the EPA has two dose standards that would apply based on the number of years from the time the facility is closed. For the first 10,000 years, the EPA would retain the 2001 final rule's dose limit of 15 millirem per year. This

3772-651: The United States. The site is on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada , about 80 mi (130 km) northwest of the Las Vegas Valley . The project was approved in 2002 by the 107th United States Congress , but the 112th Congress ended federal funding for the site via amendment to the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act , passed on April 14, 2011, during

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-443: The Yucca Mountain Project. "We believe that establishing Sandia as our lead laboratory is an important step in our new path forward. The independent, expert review that the scientists at Sandia will perform will help ensure that the technical and scientific basis for the Yucca Mountain repository is without question," OCRWM's Acting Director Paul Golan said. "Sandia has unique experience in managing scientific investigations in support of

3956-573: The Yucca Mountain Repository. For fiscal year 2019, the DOE again requested $ 120 million while the NRC increased its request to $ 47.7 million. Congress provided no funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2018. In May 2019, Representative John Shimkus reintroduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives for the site, but the Appropriation Committee killed an amendment by Representative Mike Simpson to add $ 74 million in Yucca Mountain funding to

4048-411: The acquisition of PGE by the sale of $ 3 billion in bonds. However, Enron interim CEO Stephen Cooper called off negotiations on July 20, 2005. He explained that he did not "see a plausible solution under which our teams could reach an agreement that would lead to a transaction closing in a timely fashion". Cooper addressed several causes for the termination, including the refusal of the city to pay

4140-695: The bid. When details that Goldschmidt had sexually assaulted a minor in the 1970s emerged, he withdrew from the negotiations, and was replaced by Peter O. Kohler , president of the Oregon Health and Science University . Discomfort over the Texas Pacific purchase led to further voter initiatives to convert parts of PGE into PUDs. PGE defeated measures in Multnomah County (November 14, 2003), Yamhill County (March 2004), and Clackamas County (May 18, 2004). Also during this time period, PGE received notice of

4232-476: The capacity of the repository to 63,000 metric tons (62,000 long tons; 69,000 short tons) of initial heavy metal in commercial spent fuel. The 104 U.S. commercial reactors then operating were expected to produce this quantity of spent fuel by 2014, assuming that the spent fuel rods are not reprocessed. Currently, the US has no civil reprocessing plant. By 2008, Yucca Mountain was one of the most studied pieces of geology in

4324-517: The company would not try to restart Trojan. The spent fuel was transferred from cooling pools to 34 concrete and steel storage casks in 2003. In 2005, the reactor vessel and other radioactive equipment were removed from the Trojan plant, encased in concrete foam , shrink-wrapped, and transported intact by barge along the Columbia River to Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington , where it

4416-700: The construction of three Kaiser Shipyards and of Vanport City, Oregon to support them. By 1945, PGE derived nearly $ 400,000 in revenue from the two Kaiser shipyards in Oregon. In August 1946, after the war, they were able to sell Portland Traction for $ 8 million in cash. Judge Fee ruled the bankruptcy reorganization complete on June 29, 1946. On July 1, 1997, Enron Corporation bought PGE for $ 2 billion in stock and $ 1.1 billion in assumed debt. Then in 1999, and again in 2001, Enron attempted to sell PGE to other investor-owned utilities including Portland-based NW Natural . The corporate officers of PGE claimed that this utility

4508-563: The country as being unauthorized by the NWPA. The costly nuclear accident in 2014 at the New Mexico Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in which a nuclear waste container exploded has caused doubt that it could serve as an alternative for Yucca Mountain. In January 2019, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak vowed that "not one ounce" of nuclear waste would be allowed at Yucca Mountain, and a May funding bill did not include funding for

4600-411: The department's next steps "in the coming months". Spent nuclear fuel is the radioactive by-product of electricity generation at commercial nuclear power plants, and high-level radioactive waste is the by-product of reprocessing spent fuel to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons. In 1982, Congress established a national policy to solve the problem of nuclear waste disposal. This policy

4692-401: The discovery of both major building construction errors and the close proximity of a previously unknown fault . The operators sued the builders, and an undisclosed out-of-court settlement was eventually reached. The Trojan steam generators were designed to last the life of the plant, but it was only four years before premature cracking of the steam tubes was observed. In October 1979, the plant

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4784-626: The east coast to raise $ 3,000 from shareholders. His plan went through, and Thomas H. Wright was put in charge of designing the lighting for the fair. PGE also purchased the Union Power Company in 1905, and the Vancouver Electric Light & Power Company in 1906. In 1906, PGE, Portland Railway Company, and Oregon Water Power & Railway Company merged, becoming the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P). It

4876-475: The electrical generation capacity of Oregon. The site lies about twelve miles (20 km) north of St. Helens , on the west (south) bank of the Columbia River . The Trojan Powder Company had formerly manufactured gunpowder and dynamite on a 634-acre (2.57 km) site on the banks of the Columbia River , four miles (6.5 km) from the town of Rainier, Oregon . In 1967, Portland General Electric chose

4968-551: The end of fiscal year 2010 due to zero funding in the 2011 budget for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Sandia National Laboratories was responsible for post-closure analysis and ensuring compliance with the NWPA. The main tunnel of the Exploratory Studies Facility is U-shaped, 5 mi (8.0 km) long and 25 ft (7.6 m) wide. There are also several cathedral-like alcoves that branch from

5060-419: The first implosion of a cooling tower at a nuclear plant in the United States. Additional demolition work on the remaining structures continued through 2008. The central office building and the reactor building were demolished by Northwest Demolition and Dismantling in 2008. Remaining are five buildings: two warehouses, a small building on the river side, a guard shack, and offices outside the secured facility. It

5152-533: The general public, continue to stand in the Washington cities of Longview , Kelso , and Kalama . Some of the other sirens, which have been removed, have been repurposed as tsunami warning sirens along the Oregon coast . While there are no plans to remove the remaining sirens, the city of Longview has removed a few of the sirens on an as-needed basis to make way for other projects. Trojan Heliport ( FAA LID : 3OR7 )

5244-462: The history of Portland, referred to it "a generous gift to a private company at the expense of future taxpayers" since it was constructed for a cost of $ 40,342 and sold 15 months later for $ 27,000. In 1903, Henry W. Goode, the president of PGE, decided to make PGE a "popular public utility." His vision was for the company to light the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905. in 1903, he traveled to

5336-594: The largest participation in a renewables program among electric utilities in the U.S. PGE currently has 8 corporate officers. Yucca Mountain Repository The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository , as designated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act amendments of 1987, is a proposed deep geological repository storage facility within Yucca Mountain for spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste in

5428-471: The law. The fee ended May 16, 2014. Lacking an operating repository, the federal government initially paid utility companies somewhere between $ 300 and $ 500 million per year in compensation for failing to comply with the contract it signed to take the spent nuclear fuel by 1998. For the ten years after 2015, it is estimated to cost taxpayers $ 24 billion in payments from the Judgment Fund. The Judgment Fund

5520-574: The main tunnel. Most of the scientific experiments were conducted in these alcoves. The emplacement drifts (smaller-diameter tunnels branching off the main tunnel) where waste would have been stored were not constructed since they required authorization from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The repository has a statutory limit of 77,000 metric tons (85,000 short tons). To store that much waste would have required 40 miles (64 km) of tunnels. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act further limits

5612-516: The objection. If the governor's objection had stood, the project would have been abandoned and a new site chosen. In August 2004, the repository became an election issue when U.S. Senator John Kerry said he would abandon the plans if elected. In March 2005, the U.S. Energy and Interior departments revealed that several U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists had exchanged emails discussing possible falsification of quality assurance documents on water infiltration research. On February 17, 2006,

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5704-565: The opposition. But for large projects that would take decades to complete, there is every chance that sustained local opposition will prevail, and this happened with the Yucca Mountain project. Successful nuclear waste storage siting efforts in Scandinavia have involved local communities in the decision-making process and given them a veto at each stage, but this did not happen with Yucca Mountain. Local communities at potential storage and repository sites "should have early and continued involvement in

5796-531: The plant. Environmental opposition dogged Trojan from its inception, and the opposition included non-violent protests organized by the Trojan Decommissioning Alliance . Direct action protests were held at the plant in 1977 and 1978, resulting in hundreds of arrests. In 1978, the plant went offline on March 17 for routine refueling and was idle for nine months while modifications were made to improve its resistance to earthquakes. This followed

5888-407: The predicted containment failure of the waste containers, these cracks may provide a route for movement of radioactive waste that dissolves in the water flowing downward from the desert surface. Officials state that the waste containers will be stored in such a way as to minimize or even nearly eliminate this possibility. The area around Yucca Mountain received much more rain in the geologic past and

5980-459: The process, including funding that would allow them to retain technical experts". On March 5, 2009, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu reiterated in a Senate hearing that the Yucca Mountain site was no longer considered an option for storing reactor waste. On March 3, 2010, the DOE filed a motion with the NRC to withdraw its license application, but multiple lawsuits to stop this action have been filed by states, counties, and individuals across

6072-467: The production of nuclear weapons and from research activities in temporary storage. The facility's cost is being paid for by a combination of a tax on each kilowatt hour of nuclear power and by taxpayers for disposal of weapons and naval nuclear waste. Based on the 2001 cost estimate, about 73% is funded by consumers of nuclear-powered electricity and 27% by taxpayers. The Total System Life Cycle Cost Director Sproat presented to Congress on July 15, 2008,

6164-433: The project is USA Repository Services (USA-RS), a wholly owned subsidiary of URS Corporation (now part of AECOM) with supporting principal subcontractors Shaw Corporation (now part of McDermott International Inc.) and Areva Federal Services LLC (now Orano federal services business). After the layoff of 800 employees on March 31, 2009, about 100 employees remained on the project until all technical staff were laid off by

6256-534: The project. In November 2013, in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Nuclear Energy Institute , the U.S. court of appeals ruled that nuclear utilities may stop paying into the nuclear waste recovery fund until either the DOE follows the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which designates Yucca Mountain as the repository, or Congress changes

6348-500: The proposed facility, Nye County, supports the repository's development, as do six adjoining counties. A 2015 survey of Nevadans found 55% agreeing that the state should be open to discussion of what benefits could be received. One point of concern has been the standard of radiation emission in 10,000 to 1,000,000 years. On August 9, 2005, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed

6440-569: The radiation. It lies along the transition between the Mojave and the Great Basin Deserts . The volcanic tuff at Yucca Mountain is appreciably fractured and movement of water through an aquifer below the waste repository is primarily through fractures. While the fractures are usually confined to individual layers of tuff, the faults extend from the planned storage area all the way to the water table 600 to 1,500 ft (180 to 460 m) below

6532-410: The repository will cause less than 1 mrem/year public dose for 1,000,000 years. The formation that makes up Yucca Mountain was created by several large eruptions from a caldera volcano and is composed of alternating layers of ignimbrite (welded tuff), non-welded tuff, and semi-welded tuff. The tuff surrounding the burial sites is expected to protect human health as it provides a natural barrier to

6624-493: The rock would not be changed significantly by seismic events that may occur in the next 10,000 years. The engineered barrier system components will reportedly provide substantial protection of the waste from seepage water, even under severe seismic loading . In September 2007, it was discovered that the Bow Ridge fault line ran underneath the facility, hundreds of feet east of where it was originally thought to be located, beneath

6716-506: The selection of Oak Ridge Associated Universities / Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (a not-for-profit consortium that includes 96 doctoral degree-granting institutions and 11 associate member universities) to provide expert reviews of scientific and technical work on the Yucca Mountain Project. DOE stated that the project "will be based on sound science. By bringing in Oak Ridge for review of technical work, DOE will seek to present

6808-429: The site for a new nuclear power plant. Construction began on February 1, 1970; first criticality was achieved on December 15, 1975, and grid connection eight days later on December 23. Commercial operation began on May 20, 1976, under a 35-year license to expire in 2011. At the time, the single 1,130 megawatt unit at Trojan was the world's largest pressurized water reactor ; it cost $ 460 million to build

6900-580: The site. In May 2019, the Reno Gazette-Journal published a long-form essay cataloging opposition to the Yucca Mountain project. According to a tribal elder, the Western Shoshone view Yucca Mountain as sacred and believe a nuclear storage facility "will poison everything. It's people's life, our Mother Earth's life, all the living things here, all the creatures; whatever's crawling around, it's their life too." The tribes say they lack funds to discredit federal safety claims, but will be directly affected by

6992-478: The size of the Yucca Mountain repository to a capacity of 135,000 metric tons (149,000 short tons), or 300 million pounds. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) that excavated the main tunnel cost $ 13 million and was 400 ft (120 m) long when in operation. It now sits at its exit point at the South Portal (south entrance) of the facility. The short side tunnel alcoves were excavated using explosives. The DOE

7084-467: The surface at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico) and American nuclear power plants without any designated long-term storage for their high-level radioactive waste (spent fuel) stored on-site in steel and concrete casks ( dry cask storage ) at 76 reactor sites in 34 states. Under President Barack Obama , the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reviewed options other than Yucca Mountain for

7176-460: The surface. Future water transport from the surface to waste containers is likely to be dominated by fractures. There is evidence that surface water has been transported down through the 700 ft (210 m) of overburden to the exploratory tunnel at Yucca Mountain in less than 50 years. The aquifer of Yucca Mountain drains to Amargosa Valley , home to over 1400 people and a number of endangered species. Some site opponents assert that, after

7268-518: The time, it was the most expensive ballot measure campaign in Oregon history. A week after the election, the Trojan plant suffered another steam generator tube leak of radioactive water, and was shut down. It was announced that replacement of the steam generators would be necessary. In December 1992, documents were leaked from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission showing that staff scientists believed that Trojan might be unsafe to operate. In early January 1993, PGE chief executive Ken Harrison announced

7360-564: The waste would be from U.S. military nuclear programs. On December 19, 1984, the DOE selected ten locations in six states for consideration as potential repository sites, based on data collected for nearly ten years. The ten sites were studied and results of these preliminary studies were reported in 1985. Based on these reports, President Ronald Reagan approved three sites for intensive scientific study called site characterization. The three sites were Hanford, Washington ; Deaf Smith County, Texas ; and Yucca Mountain. In 1987, Congress amended

7452-411: The water table was consequently much higher than it is today, though well below the level of the repository. The DOE has stated that seismic and tectonic effects on the natural systems at Yucca Mountain will not significantly affect repository performance . Yucca Mountain lies in a region of ongoing tectonic deformation, but the deformation rates are too slow to significantly affect the mountain during

7544-522: The world; between geologic studies and materials science, the United States had invested $ 9 billion in the project. This site studied by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG) differs substantially from other potential repositories because of its natural analogues of nuclear material, which are being studied. The DOE estimates that it has over 100 million gallons of highly radioactive waste and 2,500 metric tons (2,800 short tons) of spent fuel from

7636-418: Was $ 90 billion. This cost could not be compared to previous estimates since it included a repository capacity about twice as large as previously estimated over a much longer period of time (100 years vs. 30 years). Additionally, the cost of the project continued to escalate because of insufficient funding to most efficiently move forward and complete the project. By 2007, the DOE announced it was seeking to double

7728-525: Was a 60 x 60 ft. (18 x 18 m) private turf heliport located at the power plant. It is no longer listed in the FAA website. Portland General Electric Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 , investor-owned ( NYSE : POR) energy company based in Portland, Oregon , that generates, transmits and distributes electricity, serving almost two-thirds of Oregon’s commercial and industrial activity. PGE

7820-466: Was assigned District Judge James Alger Fee . The proceedings were later called "one of the most prolonged and complicated series of legal proceedings in Portland's history". The reorganization and bond default was brought on by PGE's difficult negotiations with Bonneville Power Administration , the death of Seattle City Light 's visionary J. D. Ross, and the indecision created by the possible creation of

7912-552: Was buried in a pit and covered with 45 feet (14 m) of gravel, which made it the first commercial reactor to be moved and buried whole. It was awaiting transport to the Yucca Mountain Repository until that project was canceled in 2009. The iconic 499-foot-tall (152 m) cooling tower , visible from Interstate 5 in Washington and U.S. Route 30 in Oregon, was demolished in 2006 via dynamite implosion at 7:00 a.m. PDT on Sunday, May 21. This event marked

8004-403: Was founded in 1888 by Parker F. Morey and Edward L. Eastham as Willamette Falls Electric Company. On June 3, 1889, it sent power generated by one of four brush arc light dynamos at Willamette Falls over a 14-mile (23 km) electric power transmission line to Portland, the first US power plant to do so. On August 6, 1892, Morey, Frederick Van Voorhies Holman , and Henry Failing formed

8096-407: Was not consistent with National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommendations and was too short. The NAS report had recommended standards be set for the time of peak risk, which might approach a period of one million years. By limiting the compliance time to 10,000 years, EPA did not respect a statutory requirement that it develop standards consistent with NAS recommendations. The EPA published in

8188-534: Was not involved in the financial mis-dealings of its owner, pointing to the fact that many of its employees suffered when Enron froze the 401(k) retirement plan and were unable to sell the rapidly declining stock. However, Ken Harrison and Joseph Hirko , PGE's CEO and CFO respectively at the time of the Enron merger were charged on several felony level counts primarily related to financial misrepresentation regarding Enron Broadband Services which had its headquarters within

8280-511: Was scheduled to begin accepting spent fuel at the Yucca Mountain repository by January 31, 1998 (26 years ago)  ( 1998-01-31 ) . By 2010, years after this deadline, the future status of the repository at Yucca Mountain was still unknown due to ongoing litigation, and opposition by Senator Reid. Because of construction delays, a number of nuclear power plants in the United States have resorted to dry cask storage of waste on-site indefinitely in steel and concrete casks. The project

8372-420: Was shut down through the end of the year for repairs. The plant had an extended shutdown in 1984, with difficulty restarting. In the 1980 election, a ballot measure to ban construction of further nuclear power plants in the state without federally approved waste facilities was approved by the voters 608,412 (53.2%) to 535,049 (46.8%). In 1986, a ballot measure initiated by Lloyd Marbet for immediate closure of

8464-600: Was the only streetcar operator within Portland city limits, and the predecessor of the modern PGE. The company name became Portland Electric Power Company (PEPCO) in 1932. It was reorganized in 1948 as PGE. On March 1, 1939, PEPCO defaulted on interest bonds that had been issued in March 1934. The bonds were pledged with PGE (the electric subsidiary) and Portland Traction Company (the streetcar subsidiary) as collateral, with Guaranty Trust as trustee. PEPCO filed for Chapter X bankruptcy (now known as Chapter 9) on April 3, 1939, and

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