For some reason I am fascinated by this big move and I love the maps that have been in the 'paper' . The 'paper' being the mess that is 'Intelligencer Journal ** Lancaster New Era'. Here is some background that the paper published by P.J. Reilly.....on 08/13/2009...
***Two giant steam generators destined for Three Mile Island are expected to begin their long journey from France any day now.
The cargo ship carrying the generators for the Unit 1 reactor at the TMI nuclear power plant are expected to glide through the mouth of the Susquehanna River to a shipyard in Port Deposit, Md., during the first week of September.
Within five days after the 74-foot-long, 510-ton behemoths are transferred from a barge to custom-made, 26-axle, 315-ton transport platforms, they are expected to roll into Lancaster County on Route 272 in Little Britain Township.
Over the following two weeks, they will traverse the entire length of the county.
"This is all going to start happening very soon," said Denise Woernle, spokeswoman for AREVA Inc., the France-based company that built the generators. "I'm sure there's going to be a lot of interest in it."
Exelon Nuclear, the operator of TMI, is paying $280 million to replace two steam generators inside the plant's Unit 1 reactor.
The generators are large cylinders full of pipes, which serve as heat exchangers. Super-heated water created inside the pressurized-water reactor at TMI enters one side of the unit and the heat is transferred to adjacent pipes, turning water into steam to turn the turbine that produces electricity.
Built at AREVA's manufacturing plant near Dijon, France, the generators' 70-mile journey from Port Deposit, through Lancaster County, to TMI is a massive undertaking that will necessitate rolling road blocks, the construction of at least three temporary road and stream crossings, the trimming of trees and the temporary lowering of utility wires, poles and traffic signals.
AREVA is working with state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Environmental Protection to secure permits that will allow the company to transport the heavy generators on public roads and across streams.
Woernle said AREVA expects those permits to be awarded about a week before the generators enter Pennsylvania.
Technically, she said, the company's planned travel route is considered tentative until the permits are awarded, but, at this time, AREVA is moving ahead as if the proposed route has been approved.
"We are not expecting the state to change anything at this point," she said.
AREVA is planning to notify businesses and residents along the route over the next three weeks.
"Obviously, we want them to be aware that the generators are coming and let them know about when they might be in their area," Woernle said.
The remote-controlled transports that will haul the generators move at a top speed of 3 mph.
AREVA expects about 200 people to travel with the generators in a convoy that likely will stretch a mile long.
On two-lane roads, traffic will be blocked in both directions as the generators creep along.
When the convoy is on a four-lane section of Route 272, traffic will be blocked only on the side of the highway on which the convoy is traveling. For the most part, that means the northbound lanes will be closed.
However, when the convoy approaches the tunnels in Providence Township, the generators will be steered to the southbound lanes because that tunnel is taller than the northbound one.
Once the generators pass through the tunnel, they will be steered back to the northbound lanes.
The generators will be parked at various locations along the route each night. They only will be moved during daylight hours.
Also, Woernle said, they will not be moved on weekends.
Inclement weather will only hinder the convoy's journey if there is lightning or flooding.
AREVA plans to establish a tracking system on its Web site —
www.us.areva-np.com/tmisteamgenerator — that will allow people to follow the convoy's progress.
