Emissions stack demolition underway at Leland Olds Station

Leland Olds Station’s non-operational Unit 2 stack will be completely dismantled by fall 2018.

The process of demolishing a non-operational 500-foot emissions stack is underway at Leland Olds Station, near Stanton, North Dakota.

The stack is no longer in use following the 2009 construction of a 600-foot emissions stack, part of the plant’s wet limestone scrubber system that removes sulfur dioxide from the flue gas.

The stack’s brick liner is currently being disassembled and dropped down the middle of the stack, with a little more than 100 feet to go, said Matt Knutson, Leland Olds Station maintenance planner/scheduler.

Following completion of the liner’s demolition, the concrete shell will be dismantled by a machine perched on the top of the stack. The machine will use a jackhammer motion to break off four-foot by four-foot sections of concrete as employees of International Chimney Corporation cut rebar to allow the concrete to fall to the ground inside the stack.

The machine will be able to demo about 20 feet of the stack per day. The project is slated for completion in October.