Rossdale power plant boilers to be demolished

The walking trail immediately south of the Rossdale power plant has been temporarily closed as crews prepare to tear down three boilers. Work is expected to take the next few weeks, according to Epcor, but no firm completion date has been set.

"Our number one issue there is safety," spokesman for the utility company, Tim le Riche, told CBC News.

Epcor said while the demolition of each 27-metre high boiler will only take a few minutes, the work will be noisy and cause dust plumes. Le Riche said the dust should be contained to the site.

Removal of the boilers is part of the decommissioning of the high-pressure portion of the power plant. Work began mid-2010 and is expected to be completed by September 2012, according to Epcor.

Once decommissioning is finished, control of the entire power plant site will be handed over to the City of Edmonton, which owns the land.

While the high-pressure portion of the plant has no historical designation, the low-pressure boiler house and steam turbine house, which includes seven distinctive smoke stacks, are provincially designated historic buildings and will be preserved.

Epcor says archaeologists will be present during excavation of the high-pressure site to ensure any culturally or historically significant items are preserved. The Edmonton-based company continues to operate a water-treatment plant on the 14.7 hectare site.