The ten tallest chimney stacks in the world range from 1115 feet to 1377 feet tall. Eight of them are parts of power plants and the other two are to do with smelting at mining operations. Imagine a brick built chimney stack stretching more than a thousand feet into the sky. How many bricks do you think it would take to build one of these and can any one measure the pollution?

The tallest chimney in the world is the one at the Ekibastuz power station in Kazakhstan. It reaches 1377 feet, or 420 metres and tapers from 144 feet (47 metres) at its base, up to 47 feet, or 14 metres at the top. This is the world’s largest coal-fired plant which came into operation in 1991.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Second in the list of the world’s tallest chimneys is the one at the International Nickel Company, Cooper Hill, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The Inco superstack at the Inco copper cliff smelter is 1250 feet (381 metres) tall.

Next is Homer City Generating Station Unit 3, at Minersville, Pennsylvania, USA. This is a coal-burning power station owned by Edison International and the largest of its chimneys reaches a height of 1216 feet (371 metres).

Kennecott Copper Corporation, Magna, Utah, USA, is part of the Rio Tinto group. It operates the largest open mining copper mines in the world and was formed in 1898. The name Kennecott was first used in 1936. The tallest chimney reaches 1215 feet (370 metres).

The Mitchell Power Plant at Moundsville, West Virginia, USA comes in as the fifth tallest chimney stack in the world. This power plant was built in 1971 and at that time the smokestack was the highest in the world but that claim to fame has now been superceded and although it is 1206 feet (368 feet) high, it is now the fifth tallest in the world.

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At number six comes the Zasavje power station at Trbovlje, Slovenia which was built in 1974. It reaches 1181 feet (360 metres) and close behind in the list is the Endesa Termic at La Coruna, Spain which reaches a height of 1169 feet (356 metres) and is the second tallest chimney in Europe.

Number eight is at the Syrdaya Power Plant in Uzbekistan. The chimney at unit five is 1148 feet (350 metres) tall. It was built in 1975 and has four other chimneys almost as tall.

Next is the Turuel Power Plant in Spain. This is a lignite fired power plant a series of chimneys. The tallest of which is 1125 feet (343 feet). It has three ovens and 350 megawatt capacity.

At number ten is the Plomin Power Plant in Croatia which reaches a height of 1115 feet (340 metres). This coal fired power station is coal fired and has two boilers which can generate 330 megawatts of electricity, which is 13% of Croatia’s requirements.