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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Didcot power station towers demolished | Didcot power station towers demolished |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Three disused cooling towers at Didcot A Power Station have been demolished using more than 180kg of explosives. | Three disused cooling towers at Didcot A Power Station have been demolished using more than 180kg of explosives. |
| The explosion, which flattened 36,000 tonnes of material, lasted less than a minute and was streamed live online by Demolition firm Coleman and Company. | The explosion, which flattened 36,000 tonnes of material, lasted less than a minute and was streamed live online by Demolition firm Coleman and Company. |
| Hundreds of people arrived at the site to watch the towers come down despite warnings of a huge dust cloud. | Hundreds of people arrived at the site to watch the towers come down despite warnings of a huge dust cloud. |
| The decision to carry out the demolition before sunrise has been criticised by some residents. | The decision to carry out the demolition before sunrise has been criticised by some residents. |
| Mark Coleman, managing director of Coleman and Company, tweeted: #DidcotDemolition well done to all involved. A professional textbook job. Thank you to all the locals. I hope you enjoyed it #teamwork | Mark Coleman, managing director of Coleman and Company, tweeted: #DidcotDemolition well done to all involved. A professional textbook job. Thank you to all the locals. I hope you enjoyed it #teamwork |
| Spectators had been advised to stay away from the "difficult to access" site and watch the event online instead. | |
| For those determined to witness the event, Earth Trust opened its car park at Wittenham Clumps, while First Great Western also offered free parking at its Foxhall Road car park. | |
| Residents wanting the explosion to take place in the daylight "for everyone to see" had set up a Facebook page and petition, which received 700 signatures. | |
| But Guy Esnouf, NPower's director of communications, said experts including the Health and Safety Executive, Thames Valley Police and Network Rail had advised an early time. | |
| He said: "We had 180kg of high explosives. That is an awful lot and you clearly don't want people and explosives near together. Safety has to come first." | |
| Following the explosion, a clean up operation has started to clear the area of dust, including the nearby railway line. | |
| Network Rail said it been assured by energy company RWE NPower, which runs the site, that "the railway line can reopen safely at 07:00". |