85 meter tall Surat cooling tower demolished by controlled explosion

A 30-year-old cooling tower of a power station in Gujarat’s Surat city was demolished on Tuesday through a controlled explosion.

The 85-metre tall RCC tower with an around 72-metre diameter of the gas-based Utran Power Station was brought down at around 11:10 am.

An official said 262.5 kg of commercial explosives were used for demolition. The tower came down within seven seconds with a loud noise, sending up a huge layer of dust.

Earlier, the official had said that 220-kg explosives were used but later added that the actual quantity used was 262.5 kg.

As a precautionary measure, the area around the power station, which is situated on the banks of the Tapi river, was barricaded to keep people around 250-300 metres away from the tower.

The official said explosives were set up after drilling the column and the help of experts was taken.

“The tower was part of the 135-MW power plant of the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation and was used for cooling purposes. It was 85 metres in height, with a bottom diameter of 72 metres,” said in-charge additional chief engineer, RR Patel.

He said the other plant of 375 MW capacity in the gas-based power plant is up and running.

The razing of the tower, constructed in 1993, became necessary owing to techno-commercial reasons and the approval of the Central Electricity Authority was taken in 2017. In September 2021, the demolition process began, and the boiler, generator, turbine, and transformer were razed, said Patel.