Last weekend, I had an opportunity to tour a never finished nuclear power plant. Some portions were nearly finished; some only partially. Then it was mothballed in the 1980s due to financial problems, power demand not as expected, and public disfavor, then finally declared a failed project at great monetary loss, and given back to the community. I was there to see an acoustical testing lab (NWAA Labs) utilizing some of the huge rooms, but we also got a tour of pretty much the whole plant.
Flashlight-wise, I was not quite prepared. While there is some fixed lighting inside, there are no windows, it's huge, and there is only some basic construction lighting. I had my EDC (HDS B42, with SSC-P4) and a Fenix P2D head with 2XAA body - both OK for watching one's step in a construction area, but woefully inadequate to see into a gigantic black pit, or up a containment vessel.
Pics: even the guys with DSLRs were complaining about the lack of light.
Exterior: It was a twin plant, with 2 reactors, 2 cooling towers, and a common building that was to house the turbines. The wasp-waisted cooling towers are some 600 feet high. The reactor containment is the cylindrical silo, and control/support building around it. It's bigger than it looks in the photos.
Interiors:
Looking into the round access doors to the reactor containment inside. Concrete walls are 5 feet thick.
Spaces between the reactor vessel and containment silo.
Fuel processing tanks are Olympic size and several stories deep, and lined in stainless steel. Fenix barely lit it up.
You can see why I needed a TK40. Check the rebar.
Construction hazards abound
The reason I was there - an acoustic test facility, one of the biggest in the world.
The turbine room between the reactors is 600 feet long. Another company builds huge liquid tanks in there for industry. The acoustic lab uses a corner for speaker testing (with the white arc holding test mikes)
The water cooling towers are 600 feet high. This one was not finished with the plumbing. The acoustics are unique.
Flashlight-wise, I was not quite prepared. While there is some fixed lighting inside, there are no windows, it's huge, and there is only some basic construction lighting. I had my EDC (HDS B42, with SSC-P4) and a Fenix P2D head with 2XAA body - both OK for watching one's step in a construction area, but woefully inadequate to see into a gigantic black pit, or up a containment vessel.
Pics: even the guys with DSLRs were complaining about the lack of light.
Exterior: It was a twin plant, with 2 reactors, 2 cooling towers, and a common building that was to house the turbines. The wasp-waisted cooling towers are some 600 feet high. The reactor containment is the cylindrical silo, and control/support building around it. It's bigger than it looks in the photos.
Interiors:
Looking into the round access doors to the reactor containment inside. Concrete walls are 5 feet thick.
Spaces between the reactor vessel and containment silo.
Fuel processing tanks are Olympic size and several stories deep, and lined in stainless steel. Fenix barely lit it up.
You can see why I needed a TK40. Check the rebar.
Construction hazards abound
The reason I was there - an acoustic test facility, one of the biggest in the world.
The turbine room between the reactors is 600 feet long. Another company builds huge liquid tanks in there for industry. The acoustic lab uses a corner for speaker testing (with the white arc holding test mikes)
The water cooling towers are 600 feet high. This one was not finished with the plumbing. The acoustics are unique.
Last edited: