Transportation of a 451 ton generator stator and a 234 ton generator rotor from Hartsville, TN, to Los Alamos, NM

A 1430-MVA steam turbine generator was acquired from a cancelled nuclear power plant in Tennessee to be used as the pulsed-power and energy storage unit for the Confinement Physics Research Facility (CPRF) being built at Los Alamos, NM. The transportation from Hartsville, near Nashville, TN, to Los Alamos, NM, of the two largest single pieces of the generator (a 451-ton stator and a 234-ton rotor) presented a special challenge. Details of the move, by barge from Hartsville to Catoosa, near Tulsa, OK, by rail from Catoosa to Lamy, near Santa Fe, NM, and by road from Lamy to Los Alamos are described. The greatest difficulty in the successful move was the crossing of the Rio Grande River on an existing reinforced concrete bridge. The two-lane-wide road transporters for the stator and rotor were fitted with outriggers to provide a four-lane-wide vehicle, thus spreading the load over the entire bridge width and meeting acceptable load distribution and bridge safety factors