Germany’s oldest nuclear power plant poised for explosive demolition

Two cooling towers at the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant will be demolished with explosives on the evening of August 16. Hundreds of onlookers are expected to watch the teardown.

Cooling towers at Grafenrheinfeld will explode on Friday evening

Expected to create 55.000 tonnes of concrete rubble, at 6.30 pm on August 16, 2024, two cooling towers at the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant will explode as they are demolished.

The Grafenrheinfeld site in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, is Germany’s oldest nuclear power plant and began commercial operations in 1982. As part of the German government's policy to transition away from nuclear power, the plant was closed in 2015 and has been out of commission since.

In the time that it was in operation, the power plant provided 11,5 percent of the energy used in Bavaria, according to E.ON.

Hundreds of onlookers expected to watch demolition explosion

With the towers stretching 143 metres high and 105 metres wide across the ground, hundreds of people from around Germany are expected to travel to the site south of Schweinfurt to watch the impressive demolition. The site will be visible from fields surrounding the plant and beyond a safety barrier.

According to project leader Matthias Aron, one tower will be blown up 15 seconds before the next and each tower will take around 30 seconds to completely crumble to the ground. After the demolition, the concrete rubble will be used to fill the two collecting basins below the towers.

The demolition can be followed via a live stream by TV Mainfranken.

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