Inspenet, September 1, 2023.
Endesa has proceeded with the simultaneous blasting of the two cooling towers and the old chimney of group 3 of the Compostilla coal plant (León), which, although it represents a challenge, is one more step in the process of closing the coal power plants that the company is carrying out and that it will complete in December 2025.
In this sense, to carry out this action, an exhaustive procedure has been designed with the aim of guaranteeing absolute safety and effective demolition conditions.
This same prevention is being applied in all the processes that make up the work in progress at the plant, which also have the objective of revaluing at least 90% of the waste generated.
These works prior to demolition began in June 2022 with the removal and management of the equipment in which the heat exchange took place, basically made up of plastic filler materials located inside. The external part of the internal part was also conditioned and separated, the elements attached to the tower were separated and the equipment located in the affected area was dismantled.
Demolition of equipment at the coal power plant
For the blasting of the two towers, 1,176 holes have been used and another 100 for the chimney, completing a total of 224 kilos of explosive, which have been placed on the pillars of the towers and at the base of the chimney by means of distributed holes to direct fall in the planned direction. The project has set a security radius of 400 meters from each of the structures.
The detonation was carried out sequentially in the two towers and in the chimney (in 4 seconds all the explosives were detonated) to minimize ground vibration and material projections.
The blasting has produced approximately 16,900 tons of waste (basically concrete), which will be managed in accordance with environmental regulations. These residues will be recovered on site when used as filler material, due to its inert nature, previously segregating the iron that will be withdrawn for recovery and new use.
In order to minimize the impact of the dust derived from the explosion, irrigation and water nebulization systems have been installed around the perimeter of the towers and in the chimney, in service even during the moment of detonation.
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