The two towering 496-foot-high WNP-3 and WNP-5 cooling towers from the defunct Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) site in Satsop, which were originally part of the biggest nuclear power station development initiative in the U.S., have now been repurposed as a cutting-edge acoustic research center.
Initiated in 1957, this facility—often referred to as the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant—is situated close to Elma within Grays Harbor County. The project aimed at addressing Washington State's increasing power needs but was halted in 1982 primarily because of rising economic expenses.
Even though it had been transformed into a business park, the reactor and turbine structures stayed unoccupied up until 2010, at which point they were repurposed as the location of NWAA Labs—an autonomous lab that evaluates speakers and materials for sectors including audio technology, acoustics, and building trades.
Nuclear facility to acoustic research center
Ron Sauro, a former NASA scientist and proprietor of NWAA Labs, discloses that various items such as sound-absorbing materials, loud washing machines, and aircraft crew quarters have been evaluated at his facility to measure their level of noise production.
The Stanford-educated specialist in electrical and mechanical engineering mentions that the laboratory includes the planet’s two biggest facilities of this kind. reverberation chambers And it is located within a structure designed for stable temperatures, capable of enduring both a 10-megaton nuclear explosion and a magnitude 10 earthquake.
"At extremely low frequencies, NWAA Labs can provide accurate measurements as low as 25 Hz due to its location within a nested anechoic chamber, which is isolated from the external environment by approximately 25 feet of concrete," explained Sauro. Stereophile The room's ambient sound level at 1000Hz is remarkably -43dB!
In the meantime, the laboratory also includes anechoic chambers — utilized for assessing sound-emitting equipment — that mimic an echo-less setting, together with what’s known as a turbine hall employed for free-field tests because of its extensive dimensions and robust construction.
Ron mentions that the configuration enables exact transmission loss testing, offering as much as 160 dB of variance between chambers, which makes it possible to achieve accurate readings throughout the entire 25 Hz to 10 kHz spectrum without needing any modifications.
Speaker testing holds spotlight
Since the reactor was never fueled, the space remains free of radiation, and with nearly 10 feet of concrete separating it from the outside, it has become what Sauro calls “the quietest room in the world.”
Currently, the location is usually leased hourly to musicians and video game creators who are attracted by its post-apocalyptic ambiance and unique sound qualities. Nonetheless, it has also caught the eye of film directors and was featured in a few Transformers movies as well.
According to Sauro, loudspeaker measurements The biggest part of the lab’s activities comprises around 20 percent of its total operations. The owner states confidently, "Whatever you can think of, we've handled it." They further add, "In the past decade, I have assessed about 300 brands—likely more than 3000 speakers."
Sauro points out that demolishing the structure, which was constructed using heavily reinforced concrete and engineered to resist immense pressures, would be extremely intricate and probably demand substantial financial resources to execute.
You cannot alter it. The cost would be exorbitant, and practically speaking, it's extremely difficult," remarks the ex-NASA scientist. "This structure will stand for another thousand years.