Page 265 - Beyond Decommissioning

246 Beyond Decommissioning

Table 6.1 The tallest chimneys of the world
Pinnacle
Name height, m Year Country Remarks

Chimney of GRES-2 Power 419.7 1987 Kazakhstan Tallest chimney
Station in the world
Inco Superstack 380.1 1971 Canada
4th Chimney of Homer 371 1977 USA Tallest chimney
City Generating Station in the USA
Kennecott Smokestack 370.4 1974 USA
Chimney of Berezovskaya 370 1985 Russia Tallest chimney
GRES in Russia

A solar updraft tower is a renewable-energy power plant described in
Solaripedia (2011). It combines three technologies: chimney effect, greenhouse
effect, and wind turbines. Air is heated by sunshine in a very large greenhouse-like
structurearound thebaseofatall chimney; the resulting convection causes air to go
up the updraft tower. This airflow drives turbines, which produce electricity. The
Australian Company EnviroMission proposes to build the world’s tallest solar
updraft power plant in Arizona. The 800-m-tall tower would be the second tallest
structure in the world—only 30 m shorter than the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The generating ability of a solar updraft power plant
depends primarily on two factors: the collector area and the chimney height. The
larger is the collector area, the greater volume of air is warmed to flow up the chim-
ney. Table 6.1 (Wikipedia, 2018) lists the tallest chimneys in the world: following
closure of the plant where they are situated, industrial chimneys could be reused to
generate energy as described above.
It should be noted that the chimney at the decommissioned Garigliano NPP in Italy
(Fig. 1.7) was dismantled in late 2017 due to seismic concerns and was replaced by a
shorter chimney, which will serve the remaining phases of the plant’s
decommissioning process.
Beginninginthe 15th and16th centuries, tall chimneys elaborately decorated
with carvings, niches, and inlays have formed for centuries an impressive element
of the architectural ensemble. Taking inspiration from these ancient chimneys, a
new trend emerged in recent years, by which chimneys are artistically decorated,
coated or wrapped and turned into real art pieces. One example among many is
the Church of the Holy Face (Chiesa del Santo Volto, in Italian). The tower of
the former chimney of a steel mill was preserved and wrapped with a helical sym-
bolic metal structure on which a series of spikes are mounted to represent thorns;
the helical structure conveys a sense of ascension. On top a 60-m silver cross was
placed (Design Build, n.d.). A survey of old chimneys “beautified” recently is given
in (Web Urbanist, 2009). A remarkable case of “beautiful” chimney is the Vienna
incinerator, designed by the famous Austrian architect, Friedensreich Hundertwas-
ser (Fig. 6.39).