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Category: Building and Construction

Stubborn chimney stack defies explosive demolition

Sunday, 21 Feb 2016 15:33:43 | Nick Dole

One chimney stack has defied a demolition attempt in Clyde, New South Wales. (ABC)

Four large chimney stacks from a now defunct Sydney oil refinery have come crashing to earth as part of a controlled demolition.

However, a fifth has survived two separate attempts to destroy it.

Police set up an exclusion zone around the old Shell refinery site at Clyde in preparation for the operation, which took more than six months of detailed planning.

Technicians drilled hundreds of holes in the stacks before packing them with 50 kilograms of explosives.

When the explosives were detonated, four stacks collapsed as expected, however a fifth refused to budge.

Clinton Dick, a demolition expert working on the operation said the result was "a little disappointing".

"At the end of the day, we've had four stacks come down really well," he said.

"The method is sound, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, we just suspect there is a detonation cord problem [with the fifth stack]."

Later on Sunday afternoon, demolition experts tried again to bring the stack down with explosives, but it remained standing.

Viva Energy, which now runs a fuel terminal on the site, has yet to announce if or when further demolition attempts will take place.

AustraliaPlus


 

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