Massive rotor travels through Clovis

A 460,000-pound piece of equipment was successfully transported Friday from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Clovis, passing through the heart of Santa Fe, on its way to a repair site across the country.

The truck-and-trailer rig being used to carry the massive load - a rotor that is 69 feet long and 6 feet in diameter - caused a few delays for drivers, but also drew plenty of stares as it made its way through the Land of Enchantment before a train ride east.

New Mexico State Police completed the "super load escort assignment" about 7:20 p.m. Friday, said NMSP Lt. Mark Soriano.

Officers escorted the rotor to the Clovis railyard, Soriano said.

"Everything went as planned and no problems were reported."

Railroad officials did not respond to questions about when the equipment would begin the final leg of its journey to Richmond, Virginia.

The trip began Friday morning, traveling through Pojoaque, then into Santa Fe on U.S. 84-285. Traveling speeds of 25- to 40-mph, the trip carried on through Clines Corners, Vaughn, Fort Sumner and Melrose before reaching Clovis.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation said the rotor is "nonmilitary" and contains no hazardous or radioactive materials.

The entire transport system, with two trucks, weighed 700,000 pounds but was not expected to cause damage along the route, DOT spokesperson Marisa Maez said.

LANL spokesman Kevin Roark said the rotor is the same kind of spinning mechanism found at the core of any typical electrical motor, except for its massive size, and is the central portion of the lab's Motor-Generator.

The machine has a power output capacity of 1.4 billion watts, energy storage of 1.2 gigajoules and requires a dedicated 12,000-square-foot building.

The generator delivers large bursts of electrical energy "in (a) very short time - about one second - to physics and materials science experiments, safely, repeatably, and under control," Roark said via email.

It was originally built in Switzerland and designed for use by the Tennessee Valley Authority. It was first delivered to Los Alamos in 1989 for use in early fusion energy experiments.

When asked why it's easier to move the rotor to Virginia than it is to fix it in Los Alamos, Roark said it was more of a question for General Electric, but that it was explained to him that you'd rather take your car to the shop than have a mechanic try to fix it at your house, and also the rotor is "a very special car" in that example.

"You have all of the equipment and all of the expertise there," Roark said. "You don't want to find out you need somebody else, and have to wait for them to fly up."

After repairs, the rotor will be hauled back to Los Alamos, likely via the same path in reverse, at a date to be determined.