Author Topic: More cooling towers come down!  (Read 4246 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
More cooling towers come down!
« on: 15 May, 2020, 05:42:10 pm »
Multiple viewpoints including inside the cooling towers from the demolition of a German nuclear power station.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-52667652/spectacular-demolition-at-german-nuclear-site
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #1 on: 15 May, 2020, 05:51:41 pm »
With renewables becoming insanely cheap, and all these old thermal plants reaching end of life, I hope somebody's going to remember to leave *some* standing.  With Tinsley, Didcot and Ironbridge gone, we seem to be running out of iconic cooling towers.

Ratcliffe?  Ferrybridge?  Drax?

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #2 on: 15 May, 2020, 05:59:11 pm »
Coming into Wantage from the south on the B4494 is great on a bike, partly because it's a long, smooth downhill but also because you get a view of the iconic Didcot cooling towers. Or used to. Fortunately the Downs are still there!

Perhaps we need a mappy thing of the surviving towers.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #3 on: 15 May, 2020, 05:59:35 pm »
Drax is still going - all carbon neutral biomass innit
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #4 on: 15 May, 2020, 06:00:44 pm »
Drax is still going - all carbon neutral biomass innit

Sure, but they'll get to the point where that doesn't make economic sense either.  We wouldn't want cyclists hacking their way up from Thorne in an againsterly to be deprived of the important doesn't-seem-to-be-getting-any-bigger landmark.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #5 on: 15 May, 2020, 06:05:57 pm »
Cooling towers are pretty thin. The reinforced concrete will deteriorate over the decades from carbonation, leading to reinforcement corrosion and eventually to brittle failure in a high wind, if allowed to progress that far.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...


Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #7 on: 15 May, 2020, 06:08:01 pm »
I cannot find any reference to Listed Cooling Towers, only that one set has been granted immunity from listing until 2025. I'm not sure if that means they will eventually be listed, or they can be torn down in the meantime.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #8 on: 15 May, 2020, 06:57:50 pm »
I live in what was once know as Megawatt Valley, the lower Trent, with easy access to Yorkshire coal and providing power for the industrial Midlands.  There's not many still active though some defunct cooling towers are still standing.  I watched Drakelow's come down about 15 years ago, at night as they had to close the A38 which runs alongside, not a great vantage point from the next field, still worth watching, all three came down together.  Those closer at Willington are still standing, though it's been inactive for years, keep hearing rumors that they're being demolished, then they're not.


hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #9 on: 15 May, 2020, 07:57:50 pm »
Bernie's Long Flat One was otherwise known as the 'Tour of the Cooling Towers' back in the day, wasn't it?

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #10 on: 15 May, 2020, 08:17:48 pm »
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/englands-redundant-post-war-coal-and-oil-fired-power-stations/heag088-power-stations/
I've just had a look at that, some great photos.  East Midlands Parkway Railway Station is alongside Ratcliffe power station with I think eight cooling towers, the late train from London stops there for a while, it can feel a bit surreal, very Mordor.

ian

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #11 on: 15 May, 2020, 09:22:18 pm »
An exotic visit from my childhood.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #12 on: 15 May, 2020, 09:29:17 pm »
I live in what was once know as Megawatt Valley, ...
You live with the former president of Indonesia? How exotic!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #13 on: 16 May, 2020, 07:09:17 am »
Cooling towers are pretty thin. The reinforced concrete will deteriorate over the decades from carbonation, leading to reinforcement corrosion and eventually to brittle failure in a high wind, if allowed to progress that far.

Concrete boats can last a very long time. In saltwater too.
Move Faster and Bake Things

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #14 on: 16 May, 2020, 07:51:26 am »
Yes but carbonation of concrete occurs in the absence of saturation and particularly absence of chloride penetration. They are different deterioration mechanisms. Carbonation neutralises the alkalinity of concrete, eliminating passivation of the reinforcement. The reo is then extremely likely to corrode. That spalls off the overlying concrete, losing structural strength and stiffness, particularly for thin shell structures like cooling towers. Carbonation of good structural concrete might penetrate 1mm per year.

http://www.concrete.org.uk/fingertips-document.asp?id=736
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #15 on: 16 May, 2020, 09:21:36 am »


 We wouldn't want cyclists hacking their way up from Thorne in an againsterly to be deprived of the important doesn't-seem-to-be-getting-any-bigger landmark.

I'm scared to go anywhere these days, in case I can't find my way home  :'(
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #16 on: 16 May, 2020, 09:25:15 am »
Last time I took the train to London, it was like there was a gap between Swindon and Reading. Whereas normally there's only a hole.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #17 on: 16 May, 2020, 01:05:47 pm »
The M40's even more boring than it used to be.

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #18 on: 16 May, 2020, 03:42:26 pm »
The M40's even more boring than it used to be.

So long as it is not fracking.
Move Faster and Bake Things

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #19 on: 16 May, 2020, 09:39:39 pm »
With renewables becoming insanely cheap, and all these old thermal plants reaching end of life, I hope somebody's going to remember to leave *some* standing.  With Tinsley, Didcot and Ironbridge gone, we seem to be running out of iconic cooling towers.

Ratcliffe?  Ferrybridge?  Drax?
when I were a lad I clearly remember a power station on Canal Road in Bradford that had wooden cooling towers. By the time I worked in Bradford in ‘78 they’d all been removed although I suspect there’s still some photographs of them somewhere. And last time I drove past Ferrybridge (his Christmas just gone) not,only were the cooling towers still there, but they were building massive hoppers for some fuel feed.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #20 on: 16 May, 2020, 09:57:30 pm »
On a similar theme, gasometers. Or perhaps we should call them gas holders more correctly. They used to be a fairly common sight but now there are few left. Most of them are not exactly pretty, but their appeal in terms of industrial purposefulness is comparable to cooling towers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-16903510
It seems someone appreciates them even in a setting usually associated with Jane Austen-ism. Didn't do any good though.
https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/baths-last-gasometer-set-dismantled-52278/
I think that's one of the two by Midland Road.
Yep: https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/baths-last-gasometer-set-dismantled-52278/
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

rob

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #21 on: 17 May, 2020, 01:50:22 pm »
A couple of bodies are getting their teeth into Drax over the sustainability of biomass from US timber.  It will go on for a while I expect.   4 out of 6 units are now on biomass with the last 2 on coal which aren’t getting used much.   They are working on replacing everything with a CCGT eventually, as are Eggborough just down the road.  The average CCGT just doesn’t look as interesting on the horizon.   I always quite enjoy the view from just North of Lincoln where you can see 5 power stations on a clear day.  2 of those are now off with a 3rd coming this Winter.

There used to be a defunct plant at Thorpe Marriott where they had never taken the cooling towers down as it had been too unsafe to start demolition.   

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #22 on: 17 May, 2020, 02:12:01 pm »
On a similar theme, gasometers. Or perhaps we should call them gas holders more correctly. They used to be a fairly common sight but now there are few left. Most of them are not exactly pretty, but their appeal in terms of industrial purposefulness is comparable to cooling towers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-16903510
It seems someone appreciates them even in a setting usually associated with Jane Austen-ism. Didn't do any good though.
https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/baths-last-gasometer-set-dismantled-52278/
I think that's one of the two by Midland Road.
Yep: https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/baths-last-gasometer-set-dismantled-52278/
If you're into gasometers you might like this.

or, indeed, this.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

rob

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #23 on: 17 May, 2020, 02:36:14 pm »
I forgot there was one at Sandwich for many years and it was only taken down recently.  The substation land is being used for one of the European interconnectors.

Re: More cooling towers come down!
« Reply #24 on: 17 May, 2020, 03:26:25 pm »
I forgot there was one at Sandwich for many years and it was only taken down recently.  The substation land is being used for one of the European interconnectors.

Three, in fact. Anna chimney. And it was Richborough, rather than Sandwich - the devil's in the detail  ;).
Little known fact:
Watling Street starts from (what are now the ruins of) Richborough castle.
I shot some footage of the demolition of those as part of my Boom! Boom! Boom! ride, back in 2012
MOV04356 by jurekb, on Flickr

More recently, and closer to home, these were dismantled recently:
https://tinyurl.com/y7xz2wqb

Which is a shame, because they looked splendid against a background of a sunlit, azure blue sky