Series

Oral history interview with Arthur Olmstead

• 1988-01-20 (Creation)

.1 cubic feet; 1 audiocassette (1 hr., 4 min., 13 sec.) + transcript (25 pages)

This oral history interview with Arthur Olmstead was conducted by Judy Hartman on January 20, 1988. The interview was conducted as part of the Portland General Electric Centennial Oral History Series, which marked PGE's 100th anniversary and was used in the writing of the book "Electrifying Eden."

In this interview, Olmstead discusses his career as general plant manager of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant for Portland General Electric. He begins by suggesting names of other people to interview to Judy Hartman. He then describes the day-to-day operations of the Trojan plant, safety planning, and working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. He speaks at length about the public sentiment against nuclear power, particularly after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters, and the future of nuclear power plants. He describes the current operating condition of Trojan, plant maintenance, and PGE's transparency with the press. He discusses how Trojan compares to other nuclear power plants in the United States, and talks about how Trojan's staff makes the plant unique. He describes how the plant handles emergency situations, such as storms and power outages. He closes the interview by talking about the importance of Trojan to PGE.

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

• English

Gift of Craig Wollner, 1989 (Lib. Acc. 28418).

The Oregon Historical Society Research Library also holds photographs and documents relating to PGE in Coll 415, the Portland General Electric collection, and Org. Lot 151, the Portland General Electric photographs.

This oral history interview was used in the writing of Electrifying Eden: Portland General Electric, 1889-1965, written by Craig Wollner and published in 1990 by the Oregon Historical Society Press.

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with Arthur Olmstead, by Judy Hartman, SR 2818, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Forms part of the Portland General Electric Centennial Oral History Series.

Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.

Sarah Stroman

• Electric utilities--Oregon
• Nuclear power plants--Oregon
• Trojan Nuclear Power Plant (Or.)

• Hartman, Judy (Contributor)
• Portland General Electric Company (Subject)

• Interviews