Video: Iowa power plant imploded

Demolition contractors brought down the Sutherland Generating Station in Marshalltown, Iowa, Aug. 29, 13whotv.com reports. The coal-fired power plant, which was opened in the 1950s and owned by Alliant Energy, became obsolete once a new natural gas generation station opened less than a mile away. It closed in 2017, and decommissioning work commended in Aug. 2018.

Bierlein Companies, Midland, Michigan, and Dykon Blasting Corp., Tulsa, Oklahoma, were the demolition contractors on the job. Due to safety concerns, the contractors chose implosion as the preferred method of demolition.

“Right now, what you saw imploded … was kind of the center structure which is what they call the boiler house. It’s about 8 to 10 stories tall,” Mike Wagner, spokesperson for Alliant Energy, told 13whotv.com. “This is a safer option for us, believe it or not. If you think about an excavator that’s working away [at the] lower levels [of the structure], you run the risk of having debris fall down on workers.”

According to the report, Alliant has no plans to build on the site, but 99 percent of the materials generated from the demolition will be either reused or recycled.   

Watch the video of the implosion below, courtesy of 13whotv.com: