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Power plant implosion: Florida utility dynamites old plant

Power plant implosion levels a 1960s power plant in Fort Lauderdale to make way for a new power plant that runs on natural gas. The power plant implosion took 450 pounds of dynamite and 90 controlled explosions Tuesday morning.

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Brian Blanco/Florida Power and Light/Handout via Reuters
Four 350-feet-tall smoke stacks and boilers are demolished by Florida Power and Light Company in a power plant implosion at its Port Everglades plant in Hollywood, Fla., Tuesday.
  • By Associated Press

| FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Florida Power & Light Co. used 450 pounds of dynamite to demolish a 1960s power plant in Fort Lauderdale.

The plant imploded in a series of 90 controlled explosions Tuesday morning, toppling four smokestacks. The company says the new power plant will be better for the environment because it runs on natural gas, using 35 percent less fuel. The new plant is set to be fully operational in 2016.

The company says the new plant will save hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel costs and that customers will see a difference in their bills. Electricity from the plant will power 260,000 homes and businesses.

FPL projects the three-year construction will create roughly 650 jobs and produce approximately $20 million in new tax revenue annually to local governments and schools.

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