Monday, March 27, 2006

Building Implosion Update



A reader posted an update regarding a large scheduled implosion in the Portland, OR area. The picture at right shows the Trojan nuclear power plant, and the doomed cooling tower. Looks like a really big.

I'd love to see this implosion. It's one of those things you'd always remember if you were there, in person. And it would be a good memory: powerful, exciting, chaotic and orderly at the same time.

From the PGE website:
Cooling tower implosion details

The 499-foot cooling tower is scheduled to be imploded on May 21, 2006. PGE has chosen a contractor, Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI), which has safely imploded a number of large structures, including the Kingdome in Seattle.

To implode the tower, CDI will place explosives in the lower half of the tower which, when detonated, will cause the tower to fall into itself. Debris will be contained almost entirely within the tower's footprint. The implosion, from the first detonation of explosives to the settling of the tower, will take about 8 seconds.

Minimal public impact is expected as a result of the implosion. Ground vibration will be imperceptible. Noise levels will be equal to or less than that of a summer thunderstorm or a typical fireworks display.

Fine particles may travel downwind and if so, would appear as a fine layer of dust. The best place to watch the implosion will be on television. Portland television stations plan to carry it live. Public viewing areas may be difficult to find, and traffic will be held up at several points before and during the time of the implosion.

While I give credit to PGE for openness regarding the event, it appears that it won't be accessible to the public except through the sterility of television coverage. Contrast that with the approach the city of Fort Worth took, which was discussed in a previous post

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Supposedly, the demolition of a cooling tower in South Africa was once handled by a TV company. It went something like this:

A camera was set up in a field showing the cooling tower in the backrgound, and the plunger in the foreground. A farmhand was brought in, being told he was auditioning for something. The TV people said they just had to fetch something, and incidentally _don’t sit on this thing_, then walked off.

Several hours later, the waiting farmhand sat on the plunger. The results shocked him somewhat.

This is clearly an evil and reprehensible thing to do to a fellow human being. Doesn’t stop it from being funny, though.