Alcoa to re-attempt power station demolition this week – UPDATED

UPDATE – Alcoa has announced that based on current weather forecasts, the demolition will take place  on  Wednesday, October 3 between noon and 4pm. Original story continues below.

ALCOA has announced it will try again this week to bring down its Anglesea power station, announcing at the weekend that the demolition is scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday.

Alcoa and principal contractor Industrial Demolition Services are finalising planning for the demolition of the remaining power station structure, and will fell the building by controlled explosives.

The demolition may be audible in Anglesea for about 10 seconds and is expected to sound like “claps of thunder”. It may generate localised dust that is visible for a short period and will move away from the town.  Asbestos and dust monitoring will be in place during and after the demolition.

The demolition timing will be subject to final safety and technical checks, and favourable weather conditions, and will only occur if the wind direction is away from the Anglesea township – in a range from east-east-north-east (EENE) to west-west south-west (WWSW).

This week’s efforts follows the first demolition attempt on May 30, which only partially demolished the structure.

Alcoa says the safety of all site personnel and the community is the company’s priority.  “Alcoa and Industrial Demolition Services have worked with government agencies including EPA Victoria, Worksafe and emergency services (Victoria Police, SES and CFA) to ensure all safety and environmental standards related to the demolition are met.”

A 550-metre exclusion zone will be in place around the power station site during the demolition and all tracks in and around the site will be closed. Security officers will be stationed along the perimeter of the exclusion zone and will undertake vehicle patrols of the area.

The industrial stack at the power station was not and is not scheduled to be demolished, based on feedback to the draft Land Use Plan.