Explosives Bring Down Maine Plant Dome
Sep 17 - Associated Press/AP Online
WISCASSET, Maine - With a thunderclap of explosives, Maine Yankee's containment dome toppled to the ground Friday in one of the final steps toward completion of the nuclear power plant's decommissioning.
Friday's event marked the first time explosives have been used to knock down
a commercial reactor containment building, officials said.
About 1,100 pounds of explosives were placed in holes drilled into the
structure to topple the reinforced concrete dome that was designed to withstand
earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricane-force winds. Its walls are 4 1/2 feet thick
at the base and 2 1/2 feet thick at the top.
As the countdown concluded, the explosives lit up, the legs supporting the
dome buckled and the structure came down in one piece as planned.
The crowd broke into applause as a cloud of dust rose. The nearly 500 people
permitted to enter Maine Yankee property to witness the blast were required to
stay 1,000 feet from the dome.
Dudley Leavitt Sr., who helped build the dome, watched its destruction with a
tinge of sadness. He said he thought the plant had a lot more life left in it.
"It's a shame that they shut this down. There are plants that are older
that are still in operation across the country," said Leavitt, 66, of
Topsham, who oversaw the steel reinforcement of the dome.
Steve Ward, Maine's public advocate for utility issues, had mixed emotions
about what he witnessed.
Maine Yankee provided low-cost energy without producing greenhouse gases, he
said, but the problem of long-term storage of the nuclear fuel assemblies has
never been resolved.
"The federal government has utterly failed to deal with the spent fuel
issue. It's like building a wonderful, livable mansion that has no septic
system. It doesn't even have an outhouse," Ward said.
Ray Shadis, a nuclear power opponent who lives in neighboring Edgecomb, noted
that the dome could be seen above the trees from homes near the plant.
"This is strictly symbolic and nothing more," he said of the
demolition, calling it just another step in the lengthy decommissioning.
"It's the last major demolition activity."
The explosives were not designed to reduce the dome to rubble. The idea was
simply to lower the dome so it could be reached by heavy equipment that would
complete the job of picking apart the structure.
About 20 million pounds of rubble from the building will be hauled by rail to
a low-level radioactive waste repository in Utah.
The reactor began operation in 1972 and survived three statewide referendums
aiming to close the plant in the 1980s.
But Maine Yankee's board voted to close the plant permanently in August 1997,
11 years before its license was set to expire, because of a series of
operational problems that escalated after the discovery of cracked steam
generator tubes in 1994.
By the time decommissioning is completed next year, it will have cost $500
million.
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