Wisconsin
500-foot smokestack, main building demolished at Dairyland plant in Genoa
With a big boom, the former Dairyland Power Plant in Genoa was demolished Tuesday.
With about 400 pounds of explosives, the remains of the riverfront plant were imploded, followed by the toppling of its 500-foot smokestack that stood 52 years.
For the next 3-4 months, Dairyland will clean up the site.
The Genoa facility was built by the government as a nuclear plant in 1967 for $21 million, and sold to Dairyland fire $1. The nuclear plant functioned for 18 years. The coal plant went online in 1971. That facility closed three years ago.
The nuclear plant was decommissioned in 1987, though radioactive remains are buried at the site. The spent radioactive waste was put into dry cask storage in the summer of 2012.
About 100 people gathered at a viewing spot in the nearby bluffs to watch the demolition. Highway 35 was closed for about 30 minutes for the demolishment.