55,000 tons of concrete and steel – disappeared in 30 seconds
Until morning, the red signal lights on the edges of the cooling tower were still shining in the darkness as a warning to planes and helicopters. In the evening, these lights shattered amid the rubble of some 55,000 tons of concrete and steel, before the eyes of hundreds of spectators who had gathered hours earlier. So far, such an explosion has only happened once in Germany – in May 2020 in Philippsburg, Baden-Württemberg.
When it finally started, the explosion only lasted about 30 seconds. As the picture-perfect towers collapsed, a landmark in the area that could be seen from afar also disappeared. “The towers have been with us for a long time. They are important landmarks. They have always been a symbol for us,” said Grafenrheinfeld Mayor Christian Keller before the demolition.
Why were the cooling towers blown up?
The cooling towers in Grafenreinfeld were blown up for two reasons: First, to make the dismantling process visible. Second, the former operator “PreussenElektra” needed the cooling tower space so that it could store the dismantled components.
However, the concrete and steel aggregates resulting from the blasting will not have a large volume. The thickness of the cooling tower wall decreases towards the top: it was 75 cm at the bottom and 16 cm at the top. The height of the cooling towers is 143 meters, the diameter of the base is 105 meters, and the top is 64 meters. Each tower stands on 36 pairs of supports.
A demolition expert from Thuringia flew in specially to blow up the cooling towers. The explosives company did not disclose the amount of explosives needed for the total of about 34,000 tons of reinforced concrete, metal and plastic.
