On the Richter scale…

Motion from recent implosion recorded 121 miles away.

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For seismologists at the Kentucky Geological Survey at the University of Kentucky, the implosion of Frankfort’s tallest building – the Capital Plaza Tower – on 11 March provided a unique opportunity to record earthquake-like waves from a scheduled event, using three seismic instruments situated an average of about 1,300 feet from the tower and a fourth one about 2.5 miles away to record weaker ground motions.

Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) has published the findings from its monitoring of the event in an 11-page report, “Ground Motions Induced by the March 11, 2018, Implosion of the Capital Plaza Tower, Frankfort, Kentucky.”

With the permission of a couple of landowners, a private business and a state agency, the temporary instruments were set up a few days before the implosion and removed shortly afterwards. A high-speed video camera was also used to record the 10 explosions that weakened and collapsed the 28-story building. That allowed the KGS scientists to correlate the seismic readings with each blast and the building’s impact with the ground.

All of the temporary instruments recorded each explosion and the building impact, but other sensitive instruments around Kentucky in the KGS Seismic and Strong-Motion Network also detected the event. A station in Floyd County, Kentucky, 121 miles away from the implosion, recorded slight motions from the building’s collapse.

Although seismic waves induced by the collapse were detectable at such large distances, among the findings in the report is that in downtown Frankfort “shaking from the event was not likely felt by people, and damage to the built environment was unlikely at the distances of the KGS recording stations.”

Read more here.

Video – Lake Barkley bridge laid to rest…

Implosion drops central span of 85-year old Kentucky bridge.

The Lake Barkley Bridge was demolished in an implosion Wednesday morning in Trigg County, Kentucky.

The bridge opened in Trigg County, Kentucky, in 1932. It was 3,104-foot bridge and cost more than $566,000 to build. It’s official name was “The Henry R. Lawrence Memorial Bridge.”

The second film (below) takes a little while to get to the action, but it is stunning.

Video – Decommissioning Dounreay…

Demolition doesn’t get more challenging than this.

In a week in which it was announced that demolition workers had been exposed to radioactive particles while dismantling a plutonium processing plant in the US, this video from the Dounreay nuclear power plant in Scotland provides a fascinating insight into the complexity of this kind of work.

Radioactive facilities, including a cooling pond, storage compound and examination cells assisted Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) during its operational life. All have now been safely and painstakingly stripped out at part of a 10-year, £15 million project, culminating in the support building itself being removed from the landscape.

You can read more about the project here.

Radiation halts nuclear plant demolition…

Workers exposed to radioactive particles during plant deconstruction.

Dozens of workers demolishing a plutonium processing plant from the 1940s have inhaled or ingested radioactive particles in the past year, and even carried some of that radiation into their vehicles, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Seven decades after making key portions of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are being exposed to radiation as they tear down buildings that helped create the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

The incidents have prompted the federal government, along with state regulators, to halt the demolition of the sprawling Plutonium Finishing Plant until a safe plan can be developed.

The contamination has also shaken confidence in a massive cleanup of Hanford, the nation’s most polluted nuclear weapons production site. The work costs the federal treasury around $2 billion a year. Hanford is near the city of Richland, about 200 miles southeast of Seattle.

“This is a very disturbing set of incidents,” said Tom Carpenter, head of the Seattle-based watchdog group Hanford Challenge.

Read more here.

Challenging contract ahead…

Tallest remaining Ronan Point-style block to be demolished due to structural concerns.

The tallest remaining tower block built using the same system as the ill-fated Ronan Point is set to be demolished due to concerns about its “long-term structural integrity”.

Leicester City Council is expected to approve proposals to knock down Goscote House on 16 April.

The 23-storey high rise was constructed in 1973 with the same large panel system as Ronan Point – a former tower block in east London which partially collapsed after a gas explosion in 1968, killing four people.

Landlords across the country have been uncovering safety concerns in similar blocks in the months since the Grenfell Tower fire last June.

According to an officer’s report to the council’s assistant mayor for housing, an investigation has found that the structural integrity of Goscote House’s concrete frame “cannot be guaranteed for longer than five years”.

The council had initially planned to refurbish the block at a cost of around £6.5m, including retrofitting sprinklers.

However, it now intends to push ahead with plans to demolish the building floor by floor for around £3m, and either redevelop the site or sell it on.

Read more here.

Video – Brush with death…

Only quick reactions saved this man.

Less than a week after a woman was killed on a London street when a pallet of bricks fell from a tower crane, a man has had a narrow escape as a chunk of concrete flew from a London demolition site, missing him by inches.

According to reports in the Daily Mail newspaper, the incident took place at Robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets.

The contractor involved is Chelmsford-based Northeast Demolition, a member of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors. DemolitionNews understands that investigators from the Health & Safety Executive – the same team that is investigating the death of a pedestrian killed nearby by a falling pallet of bricks just a few days ago – who have described the incident as a near miss.

According to Northeast Demolition, there was a 15 metre exclusion zone set in place for a particularly delicate and tricky element of the demolition. Furthermore, there was a temporary road closure in place.

Northeast Demolition’s Ronnie Mould – a 30 year industry veteran – says he was shocked at just how far a piece of concrete had been projected. “We had adhered to the NFDC high reach guidance and followed protocols on exclusion zones but this piece of concrete – the size of a football – was still ejected,” he says. “This has been a big learning curve for us, and we can only hope that our fellow demolition contractors can learn from our experience.”

Video – Demolition TV hits small screen…

The all-new episode of Demolition TV is here!

Can you believe that Demolition TV has just broadcast its 14th episode?

This all-new episode features a huge variety of content and features companies including Clarke Demolition Company, Metro Deconstruction and JCB, together with our new show sponsor CanTrack Global.

You can check out the feature-length episode below:

Video – Anatomy of an implosion…

Incredible behind-the-scenes look at a mega-blast.

A few weeks ago, we brought you footage of an implosion at the Nanticoke Generating Station on the shore of Lake Erie.

But now, thanks to our buddy Tristan Rakowski at Manitoba-based Rakowski Cartage & Wrecking, we can bring you an exclusive and extensive look behind the scenes of this text-book blast:

Video – Danish silo blast goes horribly wrong…

Harbour silo falls onto public library.

Danish demolition contractors were left red-faced this weekend when the planned implosion of a harbour-side silo went horribly awry.

‘I simply do not know how it may have gone so bad,’ blasting manager Kenneth Wegge told Danish new network TV EAST.

Jobs – Chance to join a winning team…

MJ Finnigan is offering superb career prospects for a suitable “all-rounder”.

Altricham-based MJ Finnigan is on the lookout for what it describes as a “good all-rounder” with at least six years experience to join its team.

The company requires a new contract/project manager with at least 6 years experience.
 
Duties would included contract administration, estimating and business development. Demolition industry experience is said to be crucial

“We are well established now and I believe we have one of the best names in the industry spanning back to the days of Connell & Finnigan and I am looking personally to build on and emulate that heritage,” says chairman Michael Finnigan. “My Father has 99 percent retired now so there is a good chance for the right candidate to build a working partnership with me for the future.”

Further details of the company can be found here.