Demolition experts at the Nevada National Security Site toppled a tower yesterday that was once used for above-ground nuclear experiments, bringing the Bare Reactor Experiment-Nevada (BREN) Tower crashing to the desert floor. At 1,527 feet tall, the BREN Tower is taller than the Empire State Building in New York City and Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Tower, and is the tallest structure to be destroyed in a planned demolition. Experts from DEMCO, Inc. and Controlled Demolition, Inc. used explosives to remove a ground-level section of one of the tower’s legs and cut guy wires and anchor/stanchions on the opposite side to bring the tower down. Built in 1962, the tower elevated an unshielded reactor to emit radiation and aid in the study of radiation impacts. It hadn’t been used with a reactor since 1968, and hadn’t been used for any research since 1999, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. “This was truly a spectacular event,” Nevada Site Office Manager Stephen Mellington said in a statement. “Watching 345 tons of steel come tumbling down was quite a sight.” A video of the demolition can be viewed by clicking here.