Explosives Topple 1,000-Foot Stack at Old Power Plant

The steel from the structure will be recycled.

Screenshot from video of the demolition.
Screenshot from video of the demolition.
Associated Press

BRIDGEPORT, Ala. (AP) — Crews used explosives to topple a 1,000-foot-tall (305-meter-tall ) smoke stack at an old power plant in Alabama on Thursday in a major step toward preparing the site for redevelopment.

Workers hired by the Tennessee Valley Authority set off the charges at the site of the Widows Creek Fossil Plant along the Tennessee River. Video showed the massive structure leaning over and crashing down with a thud after an explosion at the base.

Located about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Huntsville, the plant closed five years ago, and workers previously imploded two smaller stacks. The federal utility is cleaning up the plant site in a $66 million project, and it’s supposed to be ready for sale and redevelopment next year.

Concrete from the old stack will be cleaned and used to fill in the basement of the old powerhouse, the utility said in a statement, and steel from the structure will be recycled.

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