Structures Brought Down At Reid Gardner

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

The building profile at the former Reid Gardner Power Station in Moapa underwent a sudden and drastic change last week.

On Thursday, Feb. 21 just before 12:30 pm, expert demolition crews, contracted by Reid Gardner owner NV Energy, initiated a final countdown and then ignited explosive charges set in sixty different locations in the two structures. Within seconds, the resulting explosions brought down a large boiler structure and a mill bay tower in the Unit #4 portion of the decommissioned plant.

All that is left standing of Reid Gardner now are the four smoke stacks and the boiler structures for Units #1, 2 and 3.

These structures were not imploded last week because of an unforeseen delay on those three units. Crews recently found additional asbestos materials in the boiler structures of the older units. This material must be removed before the structures are brought down.

All of these remaining structures are expected to be cleared for final demolition by late June 2019, NV Energy officials said.

Though it only took a few seconds for the buildings to fall last week, the plans for the implosion actually began more than a year ago. For months now, crews have been dismantling all that could be gutted from the plant facilities.

Asbestos, perhaps the most challenging material, must be removed with painstaking abatement procedures. Once removed, it is contained and taken to a special landfill at Apex.

Other materials, like the huge amounts of scrap metal, wiring and even concrete, can be recycled and repurposed.

By last week, all that was left was the bare shell of the buildings.
“The goal is to just bring the structures down to ground level,” said Matt Johns, a Director of Environmental Remediation at NV Energy. “That way crews are not working from heights in unsafe conditions. It is safer to get in and dismantle what is left and haul it away.”

Even the final implosion took several weeks of careful planning. Engineering studies of the buildings were completed to produce detailed felling plans for the structures. These determined what cuts to supports needed to be done manually in advance to weaken the structure. Then strategic spots were identified to place the explosive charges that would bring down the buildings in exactly the right directions.

Devices were placed in the vicinity of the plant to monitor noise, dust and seismic activity from the implosion.

As the hour approached, all roads into the area of the plant were closed to all traffic. A large area within a 1500 foot radius around the plant was cleared of people. All that was left to do was to set off the charges and watch the structures fall.

NV officials said that the implosion went off perfectly according to plan. No injuries or safety incidents occured.