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A new horizon
My father has a photo building the first column and my intention is to take the same photo demolishing the last one.
Detail of one of the cooling towers at the thermal power plant in Andorra.
I was 15 years old when we all moved to Andorra, in Teruel, following my father. He came in 1978 to help build the thermal power plant and then stayed to work here for Endesa. Like every father who was proud of his work, he used to bring me to see how the plant was being built. I am following his legacy, but what he built I am now demolishing.
It is a job with deep sentimental repercussions, because what I am doing is closing the cycle. Demolishing the power plant is like demolishing my home. That is how it feels, because I learned about every device, every element, every detail, since my days at university. I was studying electronic engineering and, with the help of my father, every 15 days I toured the different positions to learn how everything was done here.
So I have to hold back tears while undertaking this task which culminates by blowing up the three iconic cooling towers.
Interior of the number one cooling tower at the Andorra thermal power plant. Once dismantling work on the tower has been finished, it is prepared for loading explosives and demolition.
Regional icons
They were an iconic image for the region, and they could be seen from far away, from many surrounding villages. If you ask a child to draw a picture of the plant, it will always be the three towers and the chimney. They were an emblem for the area, something which set us apart.
They represent the growth and dynamics of the region, the transformation of a sad, poor and depressed area into one of the richest in Aragon, with one of the highest per capita incomes in the autonomous community.
“The towers represent the growth and dynamics of the region, the transformation of a sad, poor and depressed area into one of the richest in Aragón”.
An explosives expert making an inspection of the concrete high up the plant's number one cooling tower. This inspection is an essential preliminary process in order to be able to make a study of the project for blowing up the three cooling towers.
They were a visual element and very passive. In other words, they do not usually give work or cause problems for those of us working at a thermal power plant Even so, they are still a very necessary component in the plant.
It is where you could see a plume of steam, a small portion of water that is lost during the power generation process. "It is us who make the clouds," I told my son. And it is because they save water that the cooling towers are so important.
“It is us who make the clouds," I told my son. "And it is because they save water that the cooling towers are so important”.
A worker sweeping away the last rubble left behind after dismantling cooling tower two at the thermal power plant in Andorra.
Their function was to cool and condensed most of the water vapour produced while burning the coal to drive the turbine, which is how the electricity is produced. This enables us to re-use a huge amount of water that, if it were not for the towers, would escape into the atmosphere.
The towers were such a deeply rooted symbol in the region that there were many proposals made to prevent their demolition: Painting them in colours so they would remain as an artistic monument, attaching zip lines, etc. but these were unworkable ideas. They would have required maintenance and, above all, constant vigilance so that nobody did anything silly from the top 107 metres up. What is more, Endesa is obliged to return the area as it found it before the construction of the plant, and the concrete from the towers will be re-used to fill the underground galleries.
Professionals from Maxam, the company responsible for blowing up the three cooling towers at the Thermal Power Plant in Andorra, connecting the detonators and cables for the explosives used to blow up cooling tower number two.
Witnesses to the demolition
But this phase has now been completed. The demolition of the towers has been accepted and, of course, everyone wanted to witness them being blown up. It was a great event, something you only usually see in a film.
2.5 kilos of explosive cords installed in 40 small inflatable pools located around each tower were detonated. The huge screen of water that was produced served to absorb some of the dust caused by the explosion.
But that is not everything: We used metal structures wrapped in high-tech fabrics and straw bales! Yes, 364 bales of compressed straw, that is, more than 115 tons of fodder surrounding the towers to mitigate the impact caused when they collapsed.
Residents of Andorra and the region waiting for the three cooling towers at the Andorra thermal power plant to be blown up. This demolition meant the disappearance of a symbol of economic progress in the region and the beginning of a new industrial phase and economic development in the area.
It was a project designed to the finest detail, so that the blasting was totally safe. Preparatory work actually began eight months ago. The external structure of the towers was separated from the interior, asbestos was eliminated and the mercury-vapour lamps that are constantly lit to prevent helicopters and planes from colliding with them, were replaced by LED bulbs that caused no contamination of the soil when blown up.
But if the whole thing took months to prepare, the highlight lasted no time at all. It was like the start of a Formula 1 race: If you blink, you miss it.
“The preparations for the demolition lasted months, the highlight lasted no time at all. It was like the start of a Formula 1 race: If you blink, you miss it”.
Sequence from the explosion to blow up the three cooling towers at the Andorra thermal power plant.
People asked me how that moment would be recorded, because they wanted to see it time and again in slow motion. Everything was recorded using drones that were flying next to the towers exactly when the explosion took place.
A historical moment and everyone applauded which made me feel really emotional. I will show my father the video of the demolition, as I have already shown him recordings of other parts of the plant being dismantled. In spite of the strokes he has suffered, he still understands and recognises features like "the watertight chamber on the 8th floor," he told me, even though he couldn't remember the name of his grandson at the time. What a complex thing human memory is!
He spent 22 years of his life at the plant and to my 35. My father has a photo of the first column being built and my intention is to take the same photo but of the last one being demolished.
A new view of the Andorra thermal power plant without its three cooling towers. A new horizon marking the beginning of a new industrial challenge in the region.
José Antonio Capellán Salomón
Demolition Supervisor and Electrical Supervisor at the Teruel Thermal Power Plant.
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