Grafenrheinfeld – What a day! A spectacle that attracted the crowds like magic. It was as if we had traveled back in time to a Woodstock without music – people flocked to Grafenrheinfeld from all over to witness the historic demolition of the cooling towers of the nuclear power plant. The best seats were already taken hours before the planned event and the atmosphere was like a folk festival. Everyone had their cell phone ready to capture this moment for eternity. There will probably be countless videos online showing this event from all possible perspectives.
At 6:30 p.m. the time had come: the first bang that would have signaled the end of the towers. But the bang never came. The tension in the crowd grew, but with it the impatience. The internet network collapsed – too many people, too many devices in one place. Messages could hardly be transmitted, and then the first horror report came: a man was sitting on a high-voltage pylon, and the police had to intervene before the demolition could continue. The uncertainty as to whether the demolition would even take place that day spread quickly.
The heat made the wait unbearable. Many had been there for hours and had been looking forward to this historic moment. The “demolition of the century” in the Schweinfurt district suddenly seemed to have receded into the distance.
But then, shortly before 8 p.m., the liberating news came: the demolition would still take place. All eyes were on the towers, and then, with a loud bang, they fell to the ground as if in slow motion. A huge cloud of dust rose and enveloped the area – and unfortunately also my beloved car, which now probably needs a thorough wash.
Even though the towers have now disappeared, one depressing fact remains: the nuclear waste that is still stored there will be with us for a long time to come. The radiation emitted by the containers stored there will continue to pose an invisible threat for many years, perhaps even decades.
It was a day we won’t soon forget – a piece of history for the region, captured in countless cell phone videos that are now finding their way onto the Internet.
