Nearly completed when the Three Mile Island disaster turned American public opinion against nuclear energy, the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant was mothballed amid controversy about the Washington Public Power Supply System's $24 billion construction budget.

After lying dormant for eleven years, the power plant was abandoned in 1994 with much of the Satsop site repurposed as an industrial park. The cooling towers from the original power plant still stand as a reminder of this bizarre series of events. There wasn't even enough budget to dismantle what had been built!

Despite the terrible waste at the heart of the Satsop debacle, WPPSS's money troubles are our good fortune. The cooling towers have made for an incredible photographic subject thanks to intrepid urban explorers like Eric Holubow, who have hopped fences to pay this bizarre relic a visit.