Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant
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[edit] Original Contruction
The Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant sits just 10 miles outside of Gaffney,South Carolina in the Cherokee Falls Community. Duke Power owned the site in the 1970s and started construction of a nuclear plant there. Duke originally planned three reactors on the property, but an uncertain economy, stringent federal regulations on nuclear plants and a decrease in electrical use caused Duke Power to abandon the site in the early 1980s after investing $600 million.
[edit] The Abyss
During the process of writing his screenplay for The Abyss, James Cameron debated whether to acually film in the ocean or on a film set. Although the logical choice was the actual ocean, weather and natural variables made such a choice a great safety and insurance risk; there would be very little control over the elements. Filming in a tank meant control but no grand scale realism. No existing facility set up for filmaking was big enough for the kind of filmaking Cameron had in mind. On invitation from Earl Owensby, a low-budget filmaker, Cameron traveled to Owensby's newly-acquired site, the never completed Cherokee Nuclear Power plant facility 10 miles outside of Gaffney, South Carolina, which Owensby was planning to turn into a film studio. The site was literally a bunch of warehouses and temporary offices tied together by ribbons of pavement and dotted with weed-strewn concrete pads and rainwater ponds. The turbine pit was a large irregularly-shaped area that could be modified to hold 2.2 million gallons of water. Cameron and cinematographer Al Giddings checked out the site and found the potential tank are impressive but still not quite large enough for the production's needs. Cameron noticed a huge cylindrical concrete structure next to the turbine pit and asked to see what it was. 200 feet across, 55 feet deep in the center, and studded with rebar. It seem to be the perfect tank, holding 7.5 million gallons of water. The containment vessel was christened "A" tank while the smaller turbine pit was called "B" tank. "B" tank was used for all the interior Montana sets, the Sub Bay set, and for the "wet-for-wet" miniature work, while "A" tank would be reserved for the main exterior of Deepcore and for the full-sized exterior Montana missile deck section. Interior sets for Deepcore as well as other sets for the production were built inside the nearby H-shaped warehouse, which also contained the production offices.
[edit] Set Layout
[edit] Trivial
It took 26.5 million liters (seven million gallons) of water to fill the tank to a depth of 13 meters (40 feet), making it the largest underwater set ever. The depth and length of time spent underwater meant that the cast and crew had to sometimes go through decompression.
[edit] Abandoned
After filming was complete in December of 1988, production moved to Los Angeles and the sets in Gaffney were abandoned.
[edit] New Nuclear Power Plant
On March 16, 2006 Duke Power announced that this site had been selected for a potential new nuclear power plant. The site is jointly owned by Duke Power and Southern Company. Duke plans to develop the site for two Westinghouse Electric Company AP1000 (advanced passive) pressurized water reactors. Each reactor is capable of producing approximately 1,117 megawatts. (See Nuclear Power 2010 Program.) Plant construction on the 2,022-acre site could take five years. The property still has cooling ponds and infrastructure in place, making it more attractive than other sites in the region. The property is close to the Broad River, and electricity transmission lines are accessible. This new plant will be built adjacent to the old site. It is unknown if the old site as well as the sets will be demolished to make way for the new construction.
[edit] Reference
The Abyss Special Edition DVD
[edit] See Also
- Abyss set visit at Gaffney by two fans