الوصفAEC-70-8728 TWO HUGE PARABOLIC WATER COOLING TOWERS, standing taller than a 17-story building, will mark the site of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's (SMUD) $200 million Rancho Seco nuclear electricity generating station when the plant - shown in this artists conception - begins operation in mid-1973 near Ione, California. A familiar sight in Great Britain, the two 425-foot high cooling towers will be the first of their type used in the United States for a nuclear powerplant They will condense the steam - after it has turned the electricity-producing turbines - for recirculation through the system. The Babcock & Wilson Company-built 800 MWe. Pressurized water reactor will be housed in the 185-foot high circular building in the center. Construction of the plant began during 1969. When completed, SMUD has long-range plans to make about half of the 2,400-acre site into a recreational area. A small reservoir now on the site will be enlarged into a 160-acre lake which will hold standby cooling water for the Rancho Seco plant. Credit: Babcock & Wilcox Company
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