VIGO Co., Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Duke Energy imploded the Wabash River Generation Plant on Saturday morning.
The plant opened in 1953 and was retired in 2016 by Duke Energy. The utility company began the implosion process shortly after the closure.
Michael Wertz started his career with Duke Energy at the Wabash River Generation Plant and he led the implosion project.
“The major structures are down on the ground. In 2018, we did the chimney. We had various phases. This was by far the most substantial and difficult and challenging phase. We’re very pleased to have it behind us,” he said.
Wertz said it took more than six months to plan the implosion phase.
“It was nine months of planning for the engineering analysis, where were the beams cut, the execution and the loading of substantial amounts of explosives. Hopefully you can understand with that much ordinance on site, we had the site completely locked down,” Wertz noted.
Vigo Co. government and emergency officials and those the live near the plant were alerted about the implosion prior to Saturday.
Wertz said due to COVID-19, social distancing and other risks, they decided not to allow the public to gather at the implosion site.
“It’s an eleven hundred acre facility. There are many ways into the property the risk was just too consequential to allows folks to come anywhere near the property. We engineer and plan for those contingencies. But in the abundance of caution, we did not allow site access,” he explained.
According to Duke Energy officials, the project cost over $10 million due to the materials inside of the utility plant.
“This project was especially costly due the amount asbestos containing material inside. We spent in the order of $12-$15 million to remove all of the asbestos that was in the plant, which was by far the longest part of the project,” Wertz said.
Wertz said the company has plans to restore the site to it’s original structure by the fall.
“We expect that to complete in October of this year. And the site where the power house sits will all be reclaimed and all the materials will be recycled, steel materials will. All the rest will be regraded for structural fill,” he said.
Several artifacts from the Wabash River Generation Plant are on display at the Vigo Co. Historical Museum.
