Oregon Public Broadcasting

People in Richland hoping to get some extra sleep  Saturday morning were jolted awake by a huge blast at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Demolition explosions took down two buildings and a exhaust stack on the nuclear site.

Seven-hundred-and-fifty pounds of nitroglycerin-based explosive took down the Hanford research buildings from the 70s.

A massive plume of sand-colored dust rolled up into the sky, and the show was over.

Doug Loizeaux is with Controlled Demolition Inc. is known on site as the Master Blaster.

Doug Loizeaux: “You know if you are an architect and you design a building it may take years for your design to come to fruition. I mean, this came to fruition in a matter of seconds. So quite actually, it’s just relief.”

A lot of people from the Tri-Cities watched the demo from boats or from the opposite side of the Columbia River.