Four cooling towers of the former nuclear power plant V1 in Jaslovské Bohunice have been demolished. Demolition works lasted 272 working days, the last piece fell on the ground today.

All four cooling towers of the shutdown nuclear power plant V1, which formed part of the Jaslovské Bohunice surroundings panorama for more than forty years, have been demolished. The last piece of the fourth cooling tower fell on the ground on the 1^st of October 2018 at 1.30 p.m.  

• Demolition works on the first cooling tower by means of a crane commenced on 2^nd of October 2017 and finished by demolition from the ground on 1^st of October 2018.
• Demolition works had been carried out for 272 working days.
• Due to safety reasons, some cooling towers had been demolished during the night, since there is a road inside the site in their vicinity.
• The mayors as well as residents of the surrounding municipalities were informed on night demolition works in advance.
• Demolishing works did not cause any noise or dust, so the housing comfort of the surrounding municipalities´ residents was not violated.
• The implementation of the demolition of the cooling towers of the V1 nuclear power plant was carried out by a conventional method of demolition, i.e. gradual dismantling of the cooling towers.
• The cooling towers could not be blown up due to vicinity of the functioning neighbouring V2 power plant for the safety reasons.
• During the demolition works we had not recorded any occupational accident among our employees.
• Particular professional attention was paid to this project in the preparatory phase from the side of many specialists of the JAVYS, a.s. Company resulting in successful implementation of the project. During the implementation of the demolition works, there were no unexpected events, since prior to the implementation of demolition works many preventive measures had been taken.
• From the viewpoint of coordination and safety, it was a very specific and demanding project. During the winter period some works needed to be interrupted for the short periods of time due to inadequate weather conditions such as high wind speed or fog.
• During demolition works as many as 50,000 m³ of the reinforced concrete has been removed (50,000 m³ = covering of cooling towers + foundations + inlet and connecting channels between cooling towers).
• (The covering of the cooling tower is shaped as a rotary hyperboloid with 96 slanting beams and from the ground surface level ±0.00 m up to the height of 120 m, it has got a volume of approximately 5,100 m³ of the reinforced concrete. One cooling tower contains 1,208 tons of steel in total, out of which as many as 1,006 tons of steel reinforcement is in the concrete construction and as many as 202 tons of steel is in the distribution pipelines with closing valves.)
• The objective of the project „demolition of cooling towers“ was to recycle the material from demolition as much as possible. Since the reinforced concrete material from the cooling towers is not radioactive, neither dangerous for the environment, it was gradually processed on crushing device with metallic material separator. Clean crushed concrete from demolition remains on the site of the V1 nuclear power plant and is used for a backfilling of the holes.
• Metallic waste from the cooling towers is put back to recycling process. 
• The holes after the first three cooling towers are being gradually backfilled and the surface of the terrain is being conditioned. Finally it will be covered with soil and grass.
• The space which occurred after the demolition of cooling towers will be determined for further industrial use.
• The project of cooling towers demolition was performed by Italian company DESPE S.p.A., which has got forty-year experience in the field of demolitions associated with decommissioning of nuclear facilities. 
• The works were provided by a highly specialized team of many professionals (around hundred people) with the specialization in demolitions. The group of the JAVYS, a.s. Company employees from the department of dismantling and demolition of civil buildings formed an important part of this team and provided consistent project management flexible while solving non-standard operative tasks and technical surveillance over the entire extremely demanding demolition project.
• Costs of this project represent 9 mil. €. The Tenderer who ended up second offered the price higher by 6.5 million euro.
• The decommissioning of the nuclear power plant is a complex process and it is different from the dismantling of a non-nuclear facility in many aspects. It is also in this process when the discipline, systematic approach, inspection of the entire process and high level of process management culture must be observed, but in the first place, it is the highest level of safety. 

The V1 nuclear power plant cooling towers shaped the panorama of the Jaslovské Bohunice surroundings for as long as 41 years. It is exactly since 1977, when they were put into operation.

The shutdown of both units of the V1 nuclear power plants was a commitment of the Slovak Republic resulting from the pre-accession negotiations on the access of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. It started to be implemented in 2006 and 2008 on the basis of a Decision of the government of the SR No. 801/1999 dated 14.09.1999. The European Commission together with other contributors established the Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund (BIDSF), dedicated to help cover the costs of the shutdown and decommissioning of the V1 nuclear power plant. The European bank for Reconstruction and Development was designated as administrator of this fund. Part of financial means from European Commission which is dedicated for co-financing of the V1 NPP decommissioning was also contributed to the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency. The remaining costs of the V1 NPP decommissioning are paid from the National Nuclear Fund of the SR or own resources.

Curiosities:

• the height of each tower is 120 metres
• the average of the foundations is 84,4 meters
• towers have got the covering from monolithic reinforced concrete with the thickness of 15 to 60 cm

Final demolition works - video documentation

Mgr. Miriam Žiaková
Spokesperson