About Lakeview And The Demolition

The Lakeview Generating Station opened in 1962, and was shut in April of 2005. Here are some facts about the station and Monday’s demolition:

Cost of removing the buildings from the Lakeview Generating Station site: $17 million

The Station:

• In service for 43 years (1962 – 2005)
• Cost $247 million to build
• It was originally an eight-unit station and was considered the largest coal-fired station in the world at the time
• It supplied about 17 percent of Ontario’s electricity needs in the 1970s
• In the 1990s it was reduced to a four-unit station
• During its operating life, the station generated more than 215 billion kWh of electricity – that’s enough to supply all of Ontario’s need for about a year and a half based on 2005 consumption

The Stacks – The Four Sisters:

• Each stack is 146 metres tall (493 feet)
• Base diameter – 12.2 metres
• Top diameter – 7.3 metres

The Demolition

• The plant was demolished with explosives
• 180 degree arc was exploded out of the east side of the stack to create a void causing the stack to fall in an eastern direction
• Stacks fell like trees at approximately eight second intervals
• They fell to the east with the easterly-most stacks falling first
• Each stack has a smaller ash silo adjacent that was also demolished
• Sequence was most easterly ash silo followed four seconds later by the most easterly stack, then four (4) seconds later the next silo, four (4) more seconds the next stack until they are all down. The demolition sequence was over in less than a minute