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May 21, 2006
Nuclear boom
Although we were tired from too little sleep and an awful end to the previous day, Ben and I pulled each other out of bed this morning for the 40-mile trek to Kalama, Wash.
There, we had reserved a spot at a 6 a.m. Scandinavian heritage party, thanks to my Norwegian ancestry. The fundraiser was being held at a hilltop home which had a clear view of the decommissioned Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. Its cooling tower, in Oregon, across the Columbia River from our perch, was scheduled for 7 a.m. destruction.
Thousands of people clamored to Kalama and other vantage points that early morning looking for a view. The entire street was lined with cars. Below us, pickup trucks had pulled into empty lots. Sail boats and motor boats crowded the river, getting as close as the Coast Guard would allow. Riverfront industrial parking lots -- normally empty on the weekends -- were jammed with trucks and cars and people wrapped in blankets against the chill.
At the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation party, we stood around drinking coffee, eating pastries and occasionally making small talk with strangers until a few minutes before 7 a.m. Then we made our way outside. Everyone did. The house had both upstairs and downstairs balconies. We opted to stand on the grass just below the bottom balcony.
First a warning flare echoed across the Columbia. Then, a minute later, the demolition. It was spectacular, enormous and brief. The echoing boom did not reach us until several seconds after the 500-foot-tall structure buckled in a billow of concrete dust and explosive smoke. Then the smoke and dust slowly drifted south. It started across the river, but strong winds pushed it back to shore. I expect the cloud engulfed some close-in spectators.
Judging by the commentary on this video, I'm pretty sure it was taken by one of the people at our party. I also found this up-close view and this video from a hill somewhere in Oregon.
There's a good article about the whole thing on my old paper's web site.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at May 21, 2006 05:37 PM