Images show power station demolished in England, not 'Chinese nuclear power plant destroyed by earthquake'

Published on September 12, 2024 at 05:47
4 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

Shots from an old demolition footage of a power station in England were shared in social media posts that falsely claimed they showed the destruction of a Chinese nuclear power plant after an earthquake. AFP geolocated the footage to the West Midlands region of England, where a decommissioned power plant was demolished using explosives in December 2019.

"Chinese nuclear power plant destroyed by earthquake," read the Korean-language claim shared on DC Inside, a South Korean forum, on September 9.

The post went on to say: "Chinese authorities are keeping it a secret, but the inevitable has happened."

Screenshot of the false post on Facebook, captured September 10

It was also shared on Facebook here and here.

Bloomberg reported on September 5 that South Korea is poised to "embrace" nuclear power along with hydrogen, in a bid reduce its emissions (archived link).

That field is currently dominated by China, the world's fastest growing nuclear power producer, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and last month alone approved plans for 11 new nuclear reactors (archived link).

The photos showed the demolition of a power plant in England, however, and there have been no credible reports about the destruction of a nuclear power plant in China as of September 11.

Old footage

A reverse image search on Google found a clip published by the RVA Group, a decommissioning services company, on YouTube on November 19, 2021 that showed the same scene as that in the false post (archived link).

The video's description said that the video shows the demolition process of the cooling towers at the Ironbridge Power Station in the county of Shropshire in western England.

Below are screenshot comparisons between the image shared in the false posts (left) and the original video published by RVA Group (right):

Screenshot comparisons between the image shared in the false posts (left) and the original video published by RVA Group (right)

The RVA Group also explained the demolition process on its official website, saying "the site's four iconic hyperbolic cooling towers -- constructed from 45,000 tonnes of reinforced concrete -- were brought to the ground in less than 10 seconds in early December 2019, following more than 5 months of behind-the-scenes preparatory works" (archived link).

AFP separately geolocated the Ironbridge Power Plant to a site in the town of Telford in Shropshire, which remains graphically represented by a 3D model on Google Earth (archived link).

Below is one of the images shared in the false post (left) and the cooling towers seen on Google Earth (right):

Screenshot comparison of an image from the false post (left) and a 3D representation of the site on Google Earth (right)

Google Maps also shows more recent images of the power plant after its demolition in 2019, with the former site of the cooling towers and other buildings visibly identifiable (archived link).

The demolition was carried out on behalf of the project manager Harworth Group, which also published a video showing similar scenes (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between footage of the demolition from Harworth Group (left) and the corresponding location seen on Google Maps (right). AFP circled matching areas with different colours.

Screenshot comparison between footage of the demolition from Harworth Group (left) and the corresponding location seen on Google Maps (right)

The BBC reported the Ironbridge Power Station was demolished four years after its closure to make room for a housing redevelopment project (archived link).

AFP previously debunked false claims about nuclear power plants supposedly being damaged in reports here and here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail