To an unprepared viewer, the collection of structures assembled at a few hundred meters from a creek inlet at a lake are mystifying. A massive, reinforced concrete wall would seem to be a single section of the ramparts to some kind of futuristic castle. Yet it stands alone with vertiginous height, seemingly unaffiliated with the other concrete formations placed in the vicinity. Nearby a massive erect ring encircling an array of concrete cubes sits in a field. At the end of a rail spur, an immense matte black windowless building reveals no allusions to its potentially sinister function. Completely hidden out of view by the thick overgrowth is another labyrinthine design composed of layers of circular walls protecting a central vacuity like an unfinished sarcophagus. Although, the interior of this sarcophagus is exposed by the absent ceiling.

The aforementioned sarcophagus is the remains of a nuclear reactor that was left unfinished from more than three decades earlier.¹ Only one of the two planned reactors are discernible in the landscape.² Created atop the core structures of the turbine hall, the blocky matte black building has been repurposed to serve an unknown function. The concrete ring is the lower sections of what would have been a cooling tower. Lastly, the huge wall was not part of the nuclear facility, but intended to be part of the blast wall to contain rocket fuel production equipment.¹

Like the Concrete Jungle,³ ░░░░░ ░░░░░ is one of several nuclear power plants that were canceled due to a combination of issues, not the least of which was a nation-wide decrease in energy demand.^4,5 Further complicating matters was political opposition to nuclear power.⁶ Only a few years following the three-mile island accident in 1979, the ░░░░░ ░░░░░ nuclear power project was canceled bringing substantial disappointment to the nearby community.¹ A few years later in the late 1980s, ░░░░ again had prospects for jobs and economic development in the region when ░░░░ began work on re-purposing the site as a solid rocket booster production facility. This too met a demise in 1993 but not before nearly all the project was finished. Eventually, the property was developed into a lightly used industrial park. By 2011, attracted by existing infrastructure leftover from ░░░░ and ░░░, defense and aerospace contractor ░░░░░░░ planned to develop a rocket test installation at ░░░░░ ░░░░░.⁷ Years later, it is unclear if this project ever materialized.

Today, ░░░░░ ░░░░░ is positioned relatively out of the way in a sleepy rural area and not widely known. Its structural remains exist as a monument to wasteful government mega-projects. As there is little to see or explore, it is one of the least interesting nuclear sites to visit in North America. Regardless, what was built in only a few years will likely stand for many more decades even past the end of the nuclear energy era.

see more photos on flickr

Citation Redacted.
Cancelled Nuclear Plants. Archived October 11, 2007.
Taomas Y. The Jungle in Concrete. Yoel Taom.as Blog. March 30, 2020.
Gore A. Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. Rodale; 2009.
Parker L, Holt M. Nuclear Power: Outlook for New U.S. Reactors. Published online March 9, 2007.
Walker JS. Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective. University of California Press; 2004.
Citation Redacted

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