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Fourth Quarter 1997
The Nuclear Professional

© 1997
National Academy for Nuclear Training

All rights reserved.

Photos by
Tommy Thompson

"When the closing was announced, the reaction was not about the loss of the tax base and jobs, but, ‘Who’s going to run the Little League?’"

"Everyone knows I only wear coats and ties to funerals...This is the end of a way of life. But funerals don’t have to be sad. You can reflect on the good and bad...Big Rock helped Charlevoix be known around the world. You have made nuclear power appear safe and solid and sound, and I thank you."

Part of the community
Over the years, Big Rock Point employees have become part of every community activity in the area. Jacqueline Merta, president of the Charlevoix Chamber of Commerce, says, "The loss of the plant will mean reduced tax revenue and fewer jobs, but the biggest loss will be the employees. They’ve been a big part of almost every community activity."

She adds, "I’ve been here since 1971, and I’d say 99 percent of the people in the community have been very supportive of Big Rock. I was in this position when the Three Mile Island accident happened. Someone from a television news crew asked whether we worried about living near a nuclear power plant. I suggested the reporter ask anyone on the street about Big Rock Point. I said, ‘I predict you won’t find anyone with concerns about the plant.’ He came back to me and said, ‘You were right.’ If it were up to the residents of the Charlevoix area, the plant would continue operating."

Current plant manager Bob Addy, on reverse loan from INPO for the past two years, says, "It’s always been the people who have made Big Rock great. This is a team that really works. And it’s so much a part of the community. When the closing was announced, the reaction was not about the loss of the tax base and jobs, but, ‘Who’s going to run the Little League?’"

An inevitable end
Consumers Energy had already announced that the plant’s license – scheduled to end in 2000 – would not be renewed. A decommissioning plan was written and reviewed by the NRC in 1995. But in the face of increasing competition and increased regulatory emphasis on design bases, veteran plant manager Ken Powers was sent in January 1997 to evaluate whether it was still economically viable to run the plant to license end. It was not. Says Powers, "I’ve spent 35 years building and operating plants and the recommendation to close the plant went against my basic fiber. But it would have cost too much for the plant to continue to operate to the same high standards it had always met."

Powers studied three options – One, shut down immediately. Two, run to the 35th anniversary of the license and retire the plant with dignity. Three, spend the money it would take to keep the plant in top shape until 2000.

The decision by Consumers Energy was to run to the 35th anniversary, giving employees time to prepare and having a ceremony that honored Big Rock Point’s contributions to the industry and many years of safe and reliable operation.

Plant Manager Addy and Powers held employee meetings and met with employees to discuss the decommissioning and their career options. About 130 members of the Big Rock workforce will work on the decommissioning effort, joined by about the same number of contractors and 50 additional Consumers Energy employees. Eleven have joined Palisades, and management will continue to support employees in their job searches.

Back to a green field
Powers is now leading the decommissioning efforts. Following the shutdown, the fuel was moved to the spent fuel pool, and a letter sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifying that the reactor has been defueled. The reactor will be chemically decontaminated, and hazardous substances such as asbestos and combustible oils removed.

Major dismantling will begin in 1998 with the turbine generator. Everything that can be decontaminated practically will be, and the remaining material sent to a low-level waste facility. The fuel will be moved to dry cask storage in multipurpose canisters in 2000, and the buildings torn down. Except for the seven multipurpose canisters, which will remain on site until the federal government opens a high-level waste facility, the site will be back to green field status by 2002. Powers notes, "Our spent fuel from 35 years of operation would fit easily on a basketball court."

Trubilowicz says, "I can see how closing really makes sense. It’s time to go, but you feel bad. Right now, the plant is running as well as it ever did. But I think the decommissioning is going to be exciting. We have a chance to show the world how it should be done."

In the last days of the plant’s operation, he says, the focus was, "First, we run the plant safely. Second, we take care of our people and help them get on with their lives. Third, we think about decommissioning. But the emphasis has been running the plant safely to the very end. When you’re a coach, you want to win your last game."

The last day
The Big Rock Point celebration of success on Aug. 29 was planned as a family affair. All current and former employees of the plant and their families were invited, as well as local, state and national officials. The night before, all seven former plant managers had attended a dinner in their honor.

Children had their faces painted, watched clowns make balloon animals and ate cotton candy. People lined up to get their photos taken in front of the plant and to buy souvenir T-shirts, sweatshirts, pins and flags that had been flown over the plant. The proceeds for these would again go to the community, this time to the victims of a fireworks accident in Charlevoix.

A bagpipe and drum corps piped in the attending dignitaries, including Charlevoix Mayor Josh Barnes; Bill Beach, NRC Region III administrator; Fred Tollison, executive vice president of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations; Ted Quinn, president elect of the American Nuclear Society; Dave Joos, Consumers Energy president and chief executive officer-electric; and Kalmin Smith, deputy director, Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services. William McCormick, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of CMS Energy and chairman of Consumers Energy, served as master of ceremonies. The speakers praised Big Rock Point’s record of service to the nuclear industry, and Smith presented a plaque honoring the plant’s 20 years without a lost work-day accident.

It was Mayor Barnes – also the owner of a high-tech plastics firm next door – who seemed to best capture the mood of the crowd. Barnes, dressed in a suit, said, "Everyone knows I only wear coats and ties to funerals...This is the end of a way of life. But funerals don’t have to be sad. You can reflect on the good and bad...Big Rock helped Charlevoix be known around the world. You have made nuclear power appear safe and solid and sound, and I thank you."

Joos closed his remarks with an excerpt from the prayer given by the Rev. Harold E. Kohn at the plant’s dedication in 1963.

"Bless, thee, O God, this nuclear power plant at Big Rock Point and all those who labor here with devoted minds and hearts and hands...May the energies that flow from this dedicated place be used for good alone, and may this station show the world that the powers man has looked upon with terror may be used for triumph." He added, "I think you have done everything that Reverend Kohn would have had you do."

"Goodbye, Big Rock"
The crew for the final shutdown was, for the most part, the people who would have been working that shift in normal rotation. It included Nuclear Control Operator Gary Ruehle, whose father, Dave Charbeneau, had also been an operator at the plant. Ruehle returned to Charlevoix in 1989 after 10 years in the Air Force and started at the plant at the first available opening – janitor.

There were some special additions. Trubilowicz was there. Although no longer on shift, he has held a senior reactor operator’s license at Big Rock Point for 17 years – longer than any other active employee. Lee Hausler, who had been there for the first criticality, was there for the last.

Trubilowicz says, "We came on shift at 5:30 a.m., and we got to talking about things that happened over the years. I thought about all the plant startups I’d seen and all our history together. It’s the startups that can get interesting. Generally it’s easy to shut down. The only difficulty for this shutdown was to try to do it at an exact time."

It’s 10 a.m. Aug. 29. Before the assembled guests, Powers says to McCormick, "On behalf of all employees of Big Rock Point, I request permission to shut the plant down for the final time."

The Consumers Energy chairman replies, "Permission granted to remove the plant from service." The audience members are silent, watching the live video from the control room. They hear the operators go through the orders and repeat-backs.

"Ready to trip turbine generator."
"Tripping turbine generator."
"Turbine generator is tripped."
"Scram the reactor."
"Scramming the reactor."

Nuclear Control Operator Andy Loe had known for about three weeks that he would be the one to push the scram button. He was chosen because, licensed since 1983, he is the second most senior operator on shift. (The most senior, Maurice Field, had to be out of town.) "We were busy, but you can’t help but be nervous with so many people watching. I thought a lot about what I should say, and I finally just said what I felt.

"Goodbye, Big Rock. Sorry to see you go."