Nuclear Explosion
Blowdown
Controlled Demolition Inc. taps their expertise in building implosions to take down four cooling towers at the Sellafield nuclear facility in England without disturbing the active nuclear plant. Parallax Film Productions follows this daring explosive demolition feat.
Controlled Demolition Inc. works to implode four cooling towers at the Sellafield nuclear facility in England.
The four Calder Hall cooling towers, located at the world’s first industrial-scale nuclear power plant, are 88 metres tall and will generate more than 20,000 tonnes of debris. It will take 192 kilograms of explosives and shrewd demolition engineering to make this Blowdown a success. Mark Loizeaux and his team hustle to load the towers, major symbols of the United Kingdom’s industrial heritage.
The first reactor at the Calder Hall plant was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956. The plant’s four 50 MWe Magnox reactors not only generated electricity, they also produced weapons-grade plutonium. The generators produced for 47 years before ceasing operations in March 2003.
