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Unfinished Nuclear Power Plant  
United States

Reports1
First reportJuly 28 2020
by lone_pathfinder



Exploration of this unfinished power plant
by lone_pathfinder on July 28 2020 14:30 hr CE(S)T   Shortlink to this report: [ https://urbx.be/jenb ]

Finding out the location
  easy
Access
  hard
Safety
  unsafe
Risk of being seen
  high
General condition of the place
  good
Traces of vandalism
  few
Good place for taking pictures?
  very good
Did you see other people?
  few


Visit date    July 5 2020 at 14 hr
Visit duration    3 hours

This is the unfinished nuclear power plant from the Proper People video. Very surreal site, the contrast between the massive concrete structure and heavy plant growth looks like something out of a post apocalyptic movie.

This was built as part of a massive nuclear project by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which started in June of 1966 with the order for the Browns Ferry nuclear plant (which would be completed). The utility had orders for 7 different nuclear facilities by August of 1974, however it was all downhill from there. In 1982, the cancellations started to come. In the end only 3 plants were ever put into operation, with the remaining units left as a haunting reminder of what could have been.

This particular plant would have had a total of 4 reactors producing over 5000 MegaWatts. The site has two separate buildings which would have housed 2 reactors each. This was designed as boiling water reactor plant, where water would be fed into the reactor core, causing it to boil into steam. That steam would then drive 1 high pressure turbine and 3 low pressure turbines. This plant would have used General Electric BWR/6 reactors (2 of which remain on site) with a Mark III containment structure. Two reactors at 17% and 7% complete were cancelled in 1982 with the other two cancelled in 1984 at 44% and 34% complete. Little is known about what happened in the following years. It appears the utility scrapped usuable materials left in the plant as you can see plenty of cut pipes and beams, based off of the decay I would guess that happened at some point in the late 80s to early 90s. The plant has been sitting with nature taking over what was left ever since.

Accessing the site is possible but options aren't great. You can either trek through tick infested brambles or go down a highly visible path with nowhere nearby to hide, and both options involve hopping two barbed wire fences. Once inside it's fairly easy to stay hidden, but be careful as there are plenty of places you could be visible to nearby facilities, including a medium security prison. Once you're inside be careful, there are death drops everywhere. As long as you watch where you're going the structure appears to be solid as it's all heavy concrete and steel built to withstand any kind of disaster. There's really not much outside of natural decay to the structure. There is some graffiti but what's there is well done, there's little evidence of tagging or vandalism. This place makes for some amazing pictures, you could spend all day exploring here. I did see 3 people at the fence soon after I got in, based of their attire they appeared to be explorers, however I don't think they managed to find a way in. There were no signs of security or people on the surrounding properties, however I did go on a holiday weekend so your experience may vary.

  Text and photos are by lone_pathfinder. Click here to see lone_pathfinder's profile and other reports.

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