ESB’s twin towers tumble in cloud of dust

THE cooling towers at Rhode Power Station in Offaly were demolished in a cloud of dust yesterday.

Contractors from the British company Robinson and Birdsell had placed a small quantity of explosives at the base of each tower and after they set them off at 11am, gravity did the rest.

The towers, which were around 80 metres high, had been a landmark for motorists passing through Kilbeggan in Co Westmeath on the Dublin-Galway road.

A crowd of around 300 local children listened to the countdown and watched the results, after being given time off school for the event.

“It came down very smoothly and we had an exclusion zone, which worked very well,” said an ESB spokesman.

The peat-burning station, which was built in 1960, was best known in recent years for the fact that since 2001, the staff were clocking in and being paid full salaries yet doing no work.

In May of that year, an employee was injured in a boiler explosion and it was considered too expensive to reopen the plant that was due to close anyway in 2003.

Staff also had major concerns about the presence of asbestos in the plant after several workers contracted pleural plaque. This condition, which indicates exposure to asbestos, leads to a hardening of the membrane that covers the lung but rarely causes symptoms or requires treatment.

A settlement offer from the ESB was initially rejected but then accepted last March. The 60 workers who accepted redundancy received around €130,000 each and the remaining 40 workers were reassigned to other jobs within the ESB.

The ESB said the settlement included health cover for workers who developed asbestos-related illnesses.

The demolition of Rhode Power Station will continue for several months. The rubble from the demolished towers, which contains some hazardous material, will be double-bagged and exported to a secure site.

The ESB said its air monitoring systems showed there had been no hazardous emissions during the demolition.

It now plans to open two new peat-burning power stations next year, in Lanesborough, Co Longford, and Shannonbridge, Co Offaly.

The existing power stations at these sites are being closed down, while the other remaining peat power station, at Bellacorick,Co Mayo, will be closed next year.