Dismantling in Dürnrohr: Coal-fired power plant is gutted

VERBUND project leader Thomas Zagler monitors the work inside the Dürnrohr power plant. The power plant complex is divided into a VERBUND and an EVN block. The proportional ownership in the overall building complex was handed over to EVC during the decommissioning. "We are now removing the innards, that is all the plant equipment of the electricity generation systems, and leaving behind a clean and above all safe and functional building," says Thomas Zagler. 

Particularly complex is the work being done inside the approx. 100 metre high boiler house. The steam for the turbine was supplied there in the "supercritical range" of 538 degrees Celsius and 258 bar of pressure. That made the plant the largest coal-fired power plant in Austria. The empty boiler body made entirely of tubes alone weighs more than 1,500 tonnes overall. If laid end to end, the tubes would reach from Vienna to Zurich. The demolition is taking place from bottom to top. The assembly workers advance metre by metre on a mobile platform. More than half of the boiler body and associated attachments has already been transported away. 

Electricity from coal ends at Tullnerfeld

The steam turbine group comprising four individual turbines is also being recycled. Dismantling and selling the plant proved impossible. "There is no longer any demand for systems of this age and size," says Thomas Zagler. The energy transition means a slow but unstoppable end of coal-fired electricity generation in other countries as well. Therefore, the turbines will be cut up and scrapped, while the installed special alloys – like the boiler as a whole – are sought-after material on the waste metal market. 

Further steps

The work will probably take until the end of the year. The next big step will be the dismantling of the denitrification plant. The demolition of this once leading technology for the clean of waste gases should be accomplished from outside with the help of a special, almost 150 metre-tall crane.