There was a pop, a low rumble and -- in just a few seconds -- Savannah River Site's K-reactor cooling tower was reduced to 52 million pounds of concrete rubble.
Topic: Savannah River Site
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"It's down, and it went quick," said U.S. Energy Department spokesman Jim Giusti, one of the observers authorized to watch the 10 a.m. demolition of the 450-foot-tall structure.
"The bottom went out, and it just went straight down," he said in an interview Tuesday from the scene. "From where we're standing, it just disappeared from the horizon."
Reporters were not allowed to observe the demolition, but video and still images were made available.
The removal of the $90 million tower completed in 1992 was part of the site's $1.6 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program, most of which was earmarked for cleanup and environmental-management projects.
As the second-largest cooling tower to be demolished worldwide, the 345-foot-wide tower posed a unique challenge to American DND and Controlled Demolition Inc. -- the contractors hired to complete the task.
Engineers who spent months surveying the tower placed 3,860 separate charges -- fueled by 1,300 pounds of nitroglycerin-based explosive -- along the lower 250 feet of the structure. The implosion occurred on time and was a complete success, observers said.
"The cooling tower demolition project is unlike any other closure initiative taking place at the site," said Dewitt Beeler, a Savannah River Nuclear Solutions director. "It isn't every day that we deal with the demolition of a structure the size of the K cooling tower, and it was clear early in the process that we needed expert help."
Now that the tower has been brought to the ground, the rubble will be transported to an on-site landfill for permanent disposal.
K-reactor, across the Savannah River from Plant Vogtle, first went critical in 1954 and was one of the site's five original heavy water reactors created to make material for the nuclear weapons program.
It was shut down in 1988, along with L- and P-reactors, but was later earmarked for restart with a mission to produce tritium -- an essential ingredient in hydrogen bombs.
The cooling tower was built to help the reactor comply with environmental standards for water released into the Savannah River.
In February 1992, the Energy Department announced that the reactor would be used only as a reserve facility, to be tested and then shut down unless needed. After a successful test in 1992, K-Reactor was placed on "cold standby" before being shut down completely in 1996.
^^^ The 'Comments Section Pessimists' at work doing what they do best: complaining about anything and everything.
A video of the demo would be cool! See if you can come up with one AC.
Thanks President Reagan! I'm sure it was the K-reactor restart and the erection of this cooling tower that collapsed the former Soviet Union. So the $100 + million for building and demolishing this White Elephant was well spent.
The Strom Thurmond Memorial Cooling Tower is no more. What better tribute to wasteful spending by big government.
Chillen, SRS didn't let us out to photograph the demolition, but they are supposed to supply video and photos. Stay tuned.
What a money sponge on the taxpayers! This reminds me of the $500,000 naval fuels project that didn't work and the $500,000 waste tank processing facility that didn't work. Gee, what else can they come up with to make their paycheck?
100 million to build and never used. What was the price to make it go "boom"??
I spent a fair amount of time at the site during the tower's construction in 1991-92, being involved in the pipeline construction that connected K reactor to the cooling tower. To know that it was never used for its designed purpose is a real disappointment. What a waste of money, aside from the jobs that were created during its construction.
Thanks! We'd love to take credit, but SRNS provided the footage. Wish we had the budget to rent helicopters and shoot implosion video more often. That would be a sweet job.
Cool video, thanks! Can't think about the $ aspect, too disturbing.
52 million pnds wow thats gonna be alot of dump truckin. too bad it was such a waist of money .
I remember working in K-area during restart. I believe the cooling tower was built to satisfy the left-wing tree hugging environmentalists not President Reagan defeating the commies. Oh,and by the way joengeorgia needs to add some more zeroes to the costs of naval fuels and the ITP processes that were built.
Sorry, I don't get it!
If the thing was never used, then it wasn't contaminated. Why did we spend ?4mil? to knock it down. Do they need the space? The site is 300 Square Miles! I don't see why it could not have just stood there as a monument to our past blunders.
I too worked at K during the last big refit for Bechtel. I remember all the pretty color coding, new technology; trades galore. I was proud of my work just as many of of my fellow craftsmen. We thought we we're making a difference. If the government knew K worked and we needed to place it on cold standby because we may need it for tritium someday, why knock down the cooling tower? Are they that desperate for work out there? Now K is useless for all practical purposes. All that time, all that money, all our skill... what a waste!
That's OK Kenworth, double postings are not a "waist" of time or effort. Keep up the excellent work. And the rest of you, do not despair for K-area is the new warehouse for nuclear materials. I sure hope that this blast did not effect the foundation of the former K-reactor facility nearby. And thank you President Obama for providing the funding to clean up this only 20 year old cooling tower. Right nice of you sir!
fd1962, really...With all that land they have. 1000's of acres at hand. It just doesn't make since!
Oh yeah and by the way, the story doesn't provide any context about "why" the cooling tower was knocked down in the first place. The video is great for visuals but nobody is conducting any real reporting, as usual, at the AC.
punkin, I think the comment section is far more interesting and informative as to public miindset than the AC articles anyway.
What a complete waste of money. There was absolutely no reason to tear down a perfectly good cooling tower.
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