City of Cape Town
City of Cape Town
  > Skip Navigation LinksCity of Cape Town > English
Skip navigation links
Access to Information
Business in Cape Town
Careers
City management
City Stats and Maps
Useful contacts
Council
Have your say
Investing in Cape Town
Links
Mayor
Media releases
Planning & Reporting
Services & Departments
Site index
Subcouncils
Supply Chain Mngt
Visiting Cape Town
Website feedback
Athlone cooling towers after the implosion 

Click on this image to watch a video of the implosion.

The implosion of the two Athlone cooling towers on Sunday at 11:56:23 was a great success as the towers fell precisely as planned, with no damage caused to the infrastructure on site. As seen in the photograph, taken yesterday morning, the towers literally fell in on themselves and the surrounding area and grass suffered no visible damage. There was also minimal debris on the N2 after the implosion. The contractors started clearing the rubble yesterday immediately after the site was declared safe and all the rubble should be removed within a month.

The blast was also not as loud as it was expected to be and measured 118.9 decibels. Measuring was done from the safe zone east of the towers. The test blast of Saturday 7 August 2010 was measured at 130.5 decibels, measured from gate to the safe zone, also east of the towers. The decrease in noise levels could be due to a number of reasons, such as the measuring point, the placement position of explosives (height and orientation), as well as the wet and windy weather.

Published by Martin Pollack. 
 
2010/08/25 
© City of Cape Town, 2011