Explosive Demolition of Munmorah Power Station Chimney Stacks

Liberty Industrial carries out the controlled explosive demolition of the Munmorah Power Station chimney stacks

The landmark chimney stacks at the former Munmorah Power Station are no longer standing.

The 155m-tall stacks were demolished today using controlled explosive techniques. The demolition was carried out around 10:00am on Sunday 26 March 2017 with the structures safely grounded in a matter of seconds.

Contracted by Generator Property Management to carry out the demolition of the entire power station, specialist contractor Liberty Industrial used controlled explosive demolition techniques to bring the redundant chimney stacks down.

The toppling of the chimney stacks is part of the broader Munmorah Power Station Removal project being carried out by Liberty Industrial and the demolition of the stacks marks a significant milestone in the works.

Many months of planning and consultation were undertaken in the lead up to the demolition of the stacks with Liberty Industrial’s project team working closely with SafeWork NSW and a number of government regulatory authorities.

The demolition of the stacks was achieved by selectively removing a section at the base of each stack and then placing explosives to remove the adjacent panels to ensure the stacks fell safely in the intended direction.

Liberty Industrial Director Simon Gill said the method of demolition was carefully considered to ensure the safety of the surrounding community and minimise any environmental impacts from the blast. “Our key priority is always safety. The execution was carefully planned to control the direction of felling, and potential impacts such as noise and dust were managed in the most proactive way possible.”

“It is very pleasing to see that the detailed engineering and planning undertaken to ensure the safe removal of the chimney stacks has been vindicated” said Stephen Saladine, Managing Director of Generator Property Management.

Demolition of the power station will continue and is expected to be completed by September 2018. Two further blast events are planned for 2017 with the explosive demolition of the power station’s boilers