July 12, 1971
Earlier this month Diablo Canyon showed off a new reactor vessel head. The massive 70-ton unit took three weeks to travel by highway from Mt. Vernon Indiana.
Quoting David Sneed’s copy
The vessel head is one of the main components of a nuclear reactor and maintains pressure within the water cooled reactor.
The old reactor head, which is slightly radioactive, will be stored in the same building that houses the plant’s eight steam generators, which were also recently replaced. The building is in a canyon behind the plant.
The plant’s other reactor head will be replaced next year.
If you want to see the pot the lid is going on turn the clock back to 1971. The 201-ton lower reactor vessel internal is designed to hold the reactor fuel and rod clusters in place. Too big for highway travel, Westinghouse Corp. made the unit in Pensacola, Florida and delivered it to Port San Luis at the end of June. The moving rig had 192 tires. No word on how long it took to check tire pressure and brakes but it took the unit four hours to cover the 7 miles to the plant.
The Bigge moving rig appears to be aptly named.
Photo by Wayne Nicholls
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Another fun fact: The road from San Luis Harbor to the plant has no banking on curves like most roads have. If the moving rig had traveled on a road with banking, the reactor vessel might have rolled off the side of the rig.
Actually, the lower reactor internals are not “the pot the lid” goes on, but a highly engineered framework which fits inside that pot.
Close, but no cigar.
Thanks for the correction John. FYI I won’t work for tobacco, but coffee is another story.
I had forgotten the detail about the road Aaron, thanks for contributing it. Two hundred tons of metal rolling downhill would qualify as a bad day.