TROUSDALE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tennessee Valley Authority will implode a defunct cooling tower in Trousdale County Thursday morning.

The implosion of the single tower, which was part of the cancelled Hartsville Nuclear Plant project, is set to take place around 6:30 a.m.

The Trousdale County Sheriff's Office will assist with a safe viewing area for the operation.

Viewers are asked to go to State Highway 25 East to Starlight Road to Tennessee Central Boulevard and turn left on Macon Way. There will be multiple restricted areas with officers and deputies on patrol.

A temporary flight restriction is in place for unmanned aircraft from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. for a one-mile radius and 3,000 feet of elevation.

Construction began on the nuclear plant site in Hartsville in 1977 before the project was decommissioned in 1984. The property remained abandoned until the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center opened as a prison facility on the site in 2016.

In January 2024, three men were charged after one of them jumped from the edge of the tower after paragliding onto the property. They were members of an extreme athletes group of professionally-trained jumpers and post their activities online, according to officials.

According to the Trousdale County sheriff, trespassing incidents have happened before. He said people have tried to sneak into the old nuclear plant, thinking there is top secret government information inside.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/tower-implosion-tva-nuclear-hartsville/