Surat's old cooling tower of Utran power house reduced to ashes in mere 7 seconds

An 85-metre-tall old cooling tower of Utran power station in Gujarat’s Surat city was demolished on Tuesday, March 21 through a controlled explosion. The 30-year-old cooling tower had a diameter of approximately 72 meters and was constructed using reinforced concrete. The gas-based Utran Power Station was brought down around 11:10 am.

According to officials, "The structure was pulled down for “techno-commercial reasons”. As much as 262.5 kg of commercial explosives were used for demolition." Notably, the tower came down within seven seconds with a loud noise, sending up a huge cloud of dust.

In the video below, the tower's rapid collapse can be observed in a mere seven seconds, causing a massive plume of dust to billow upwards. The tower's swift disintegration was also accompanied by a deafening noise.

In-charge additional chief engineer RR Patel said, "The tower was part of the 135-MW power plant of the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation and was used for cooling purposes. It was 85 metres in height, with a bottom diameter of 72 metres."

RR Patel further added that the other plant of 375 MW capacity in the gas-based power plant is up and running. Patel said, "The razing of the tower, constructed in 1993, became necessary owing to techno-commercial reasons and the approval of the Central Electricity Authority was taken in 2017. In September 2021, the demolition process began, and the boiler, generator, turbine, and transformer were razed."