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Video | Power cut after Didcot cooling tower demolition
Neil Gerrard
The pylon can be seen bursting into flames after the explosion at 2.08.
Power was lost to thousands of homes after the demolition yesterday of three cooling towers at the Didcot A power station.
The demolition by contractor Brown & Mason involved the use of explosive charges. Shortly after the towers were felled at 7am, a nearby electricity pylon burst into flames when it was struck by flying debris. Power was eventually restored to homes at around 820am.
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A spokesman for Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said: “During the demolition, a large section of debris protection material became detached from one of the cooling towers and made contact with our 33kV overhead line, which was outside of the advised perimeter. This resulted in significant damage to the overhead line and subsequent network faults.
“We are in contact with the station owner, RWE, to support them in their incident investigation alongside our own internal review into the network fault.
“SSEN takes its responsibility to public safety seriously. We are aware of reports of minor injuries and damage caused by the incident at Sutton Courtenay and are working with the police and other agencies to identify those impacted.”
Alternate view of the chimneys’ demolition with explosive charges.
Didcot A was connected to the national grid in 1970 and remained operational until 2013. Its three southern cooling towers were demolished in 2014 and RWE had planned to clear the site by the end of 2017. However, the death of four workers – Michael Collings, Ken Cresswell, Christopher Huxtable and John Shaw – on the site in 2016 when the boiler house collapsed resulted in the work being put on hold.
Three years on, Thames Valley Police and the HSE are still probing possible manslaughter and health and safety offences.
Earlier this year, it emerged that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) awarded a £231,000 contract to Steve Foster Cranes to remove and transfer evidence from Didcot in Oxfordshire to its site in Buxton, Derbyshire to add to the 870 tonnes of material it is already examining.
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