“Complex societies tend to collapse because their strategies for obtaining energy are subject to the law of diminishing returns [according to Tainter]1”
Conceived in the 1970s, this site is known by several names such as Government Tractors or The Concrete Jungle. Designed to capacitate two boiling water reactors, this unfinished nuclear power plant was one of 4 regional sites that were planned to collectively house 12 nuclear reactors.2,3 Nuclear power was growing rapidly in the United States during this period and hundreds of reactors were required to satisfy energy demand projections for the next several decades.2 At the same time, an opposition to nuclear energy was growing among the environmentalist movement.4
Following the dramatic increase of energy costs due to the 1973 Oil Embargo and resulting energy crisis, national energy conservation policies were adopted during the Presidential terms of both Nixon and Carter. This served to effectively reduce the energy demands in the United States without a reduction of economic output.2,4 Another factor during the 1970s that obstructed the proliferation of nuclear power was economic factors such as inflation and unemployment which increased construction expenses and decreased the foreseen profitability. 4
The major turning point for nuclear power in the United States was the Three Mile Island incident in 1979 which produced a core meltdown and a release of radioactive material.4 This level 5 nuclear accident revealed the potential danger to nearby populations from nuclear disasters and evoked and expanded public opposition to nuclear energy.4 By the mid-1980s the cumulative effect of public resistance, decreased energy demand, and increased costs was the cancellation of dozens of nuclear power plants around the country regardless of level of completion.2,4,5
This particular plant was canceled before it could reach 50% completion, laying off thousands of workers and creating a not-insignificant impact in the economic situation of the surrounding rural community.6 Even decades later, the downfall of this project is not forgotten and there is occasional hopeful discussion of resumption of construction at the plant, but it is clear that will never be realized.6 The plant is even the subject of a rather contrived conspiracy theory revolving around the mystery that the massive first reactor was delivered ostentatiously by barge and road, but was removed in some other manner with no documentation in the public record.7
Today a small industrial park occupies a portion of the nearby landscape, and paradoxically a solar farm sits adjacent to the unfinished reactor containment structure taking advantage of the existing electrical grid infrastructure.8 The base of the unfinished cooling tower humicubates in the middle of a hayfield, oddly protruding from the landscape like a gargantuan’s crown. The reactor containment vessel stands partially finished with its crowning dome never placed. Connected to the reactor the turbine hall and attached structures are like a jump puzzle setpiece in a video game with openings in the floor leading to dark flooded cellars of imperceptible depth. Apertures for pipes that were never laid permeate the concrete walls. With more than 30 years of unconstrained intrusion, nature has completely infiltrated all the structures chambers and alcoves creating the peculiar visuals of verdant flora adorning the spaces between lifeless concrete walls. An ecosystem has developed inside the concrete edifices accommodating wildlife such as bats, frogs, and crickets. Especially salient at night, the chambers echo with a cacophony of sounds and unseen activity from these inhabitants. With demolition unlikely, this cenotaph to nuclear power will remain a unique nature refuge as the reinforced concrete gradually crumbles over decades or even centuries.9,10
- Latouche S. Disaster, Pedagogy of. In: Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era. New York ; London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group; 2015:119-121.
- Gore A. Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. Emmaus, PA: Rodale; 2009.
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- Walker JS. Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2004.
- Parker L, Holt M. Nuclear Power: Outlook for New U.S. Reactors. March 2007.
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- Moriconi G. Recyclable materials in concrete technology: sustainability and durability. :12.
- Reynolds CE, Steedman JC, Threlfall AJ, Reynolds CE. Reynolds’s Reinforced Concrete Designer’s Handbook. 11th ed. London ; New York: Taylor & Francis; 2008.