Overview
- RWE brought down the concrete stack at noon on December 19, and authorities declared the blast operation complete at 13:15 with the security cordon lifted.
- The 2004-built chimney yielded about 12,000 tonnes of rubble that will be crushed, sorted, and largely recycled over roughly three months.
- A wide safety zone prompted evacuations, road closures, police oversight, and a temporary halt to Rhine shipping during the detonation.
- Months of preparation included mechanically shortening the stack to about 180 meters and directing its fall onto a prepared gravel bed to protect nearby woodland.
- Further demolitions of additional chimneys and boiler houses are planned as RWE pursues an approximately 850 MW hydrogen‑capable GuD plant with an earliest start around 2030, pending approvals and support.