Up to 40 homes and businesses may have to be evacuated as part of a controlled explosive demolition of Port Kembla Copper's iconic 198m-high stack planned for early next year.
According to a detailed environmental assessment (EA) lodged with the Department of Planning and which goes on public display today, an exclusion zone of at least 200m will be established during the complex operation.
If the company is granted approval to go ahead and demolish the stack, its carefully calculated 15-second fall will be the most spectacular phase of a 15-month clearance operation of the former 21ha copper smelting site that is expected to cost up to $10 million.
Read the full environmental assessment Port's giant stack to be demolishedExplosive s at the base of the stack will be detonated sequentially to allow the structure to fall into the industrial site in a roughly north-easterly direction.
The company has decided that demolition of the stack is the only practical solution to clearing up the entire site for sale for port-related use, but there have been calls to save the landmark from some sections of the community.
Yesterday, PKC general manager and director Ian Wilson conceded that the demolition of the stack would have significant impact on businesses and homes in or near the exclusion zone, but disruption would only be for about four hours.
Details of the extent of the exclusion zone or the number of streets required to be blocked would be thrashed out with authorities at a later date.
"I can assure those people and businesses affected by the stack demolition that the company will look after them with a place to stay and their premises will be well guarded for the few hours of the operation," Mr Wilson said.
In its environmental assessment, PKC says there is no risk of the stack not falling where planned and the risk of contaminated emissions has been rated as low.
Mr Wilson said as part of the remediation of the site since copper smelting operations ceased in 2003, the stack surface had been decontaminated by low-pressure internal washing.
He said PKC was now considering proposals from a short-list of candidates, which included Illawarra-based companies.
"While PKC recognises there is a degree of nostalgia about the stack in the community, the prohibitive cost of repairing and maintaining it is beyond the capability of any organisation to sustain and it is also impossible for it to be used for any other purpose," Mr Wilson said.
"This is not a loss but an opportunity for a new beginning for Port Kembla to have much-needed industrial land which can be used for job creation," he said.
The EA will remain on public display until June 1, and submissions to the department must be lodged before close of business that day.
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