A 61-metre high chimney at old nuclear power plant Sellafield will be demolished – but not with explosives.

Standing in the heart of the busy nuclear waste processing site, it will be brought down bit by bit using a self-climbing platform, a technique recently used to take down Battersea Power Station’s famous chimneys.

The 1950s stack has to come down because recent check-ups found it doesn’t meet modern design standards.

Project Manager Matthew Hodgson said: “The job of bringing down the stack is going to be a delicate operation to ensure 100% safety of all personnel and surrounding nuclear plants.”

Demolition will take several years to complete.

Power plants often have an unlikely popularity and not just from architects: there was uproar at plans to ditch Battersea’s chimneys which is why they have been resurrected more soundly.

Similar interest was sparked by Didcot A in Oxfordshire which is set to be demolished on Sunday (27 July) before dawn – although the public have been warned not to attend because of the possible dust cloud.