Iceland volcano sees huge walls built round power plant to protect from eruption

20 November 2023 , 18:33

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Heavy machinery working tirelessly to build a wall in Icelandic town Grindavik to help channel the lava if an eruption was to occur (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

Two giant walls are being built to hold back lava as Iceland authorities fear the situation could “change suddenly with little warning.”

This evening, the Icelandic Met Office said the risk of an eruption in the next few days is still “high”. But civil protection bosses said they are ahead of time with their massive barriers being built to protect the power plant and abandoned town of Grindavik from lava.

One wall is eight metres high - twice as high as a standard house. It is being made in the mountains where they most fear an eruption will happen and is to protect the power plant from lava thundering down the hillsides. While the second is a 4km semi-circle wall just above the stricken fishing town.

The Civil Protection director, Vidir Reynisson, said their biggest challenge is if the lava destroys the Svartsengi geothermal plant - as then they would be struggling for the hot water.‌ “We have plans for the electricity but still there is a lot of challenge around the hot water,” he admitted.

“If we were to put electric heaters in all the homes in the area we would drain the power system just for that.” A massive 30,000 people get their electricity and hot water from the plant on the Reykjanes peninsula near the capital Reykjavik. Mr Reynisson, admitted: “Nobody is going to have a normal Christmas in Grindavik” and there could now be disruption in the area for “decades’.

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Civil protection bosses say they are ahead of time with their massive barriers being built (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

But he said they are also looking at long-term planning in case they face the “unlikely scenario” the lava threatens a second town. Evacuation plans have been drawn up for the town of Reykjanesbaer, which has a population of 22,000 but he says this area sits “outside the area which is prone to eruption.” He said: “Lava flow can have a risk to the whole area and we have made some plans for that. It is highly unlikely but we have planned for it..

“We have plans for making barriers and plans for evacuation. It is a highly unlikely scenario but of course we try to plan for everything. The most risk remains the Grindavik area.” Geophysicist, Benedikt Gunnar Ófeigsson, from the Icelandic Met Office, told the Mirror about the area about a mile-and-a-half away from the plant and the town: “We see magma coming in at several levels and we see seismic activity associated with that.

Thousands of residents were evacuated from the town of Grindavik over the weekend (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

“While we are seeing these signals, we assume the probability of an eruption is high.” He fears an eruption will occur about a mile north in the mountains - above the stricken fishing town of Grindavik and the plant.‌ We are seeing a widening of the dyke intrusion there and there are the most small earthquakes in that region.

“The most likely scenario is an eruption there might last a few weeks.” Tourists are being scared off visiting Iceland because of fears over a volcanic eruption. Arnar Mar Olafsson from the Icelandic Tourist Board told the Mirror that future bookings are down. Ten days ago 4,000 people were forced to flee the fishing town of Grindavik after earthquakes ripped roads and some homes apart.

A volcanic eruption could destroy the town or lead to extensive ash clouds, experts have warned (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

The tourist boss said many potential visitors were worried about a repeat of 2010 when an ash cloud grounded flights for ten days. “It is perfectly safe to come if you talk to the aviation authorities,” Arnar said. “We have had three eruptions in the past three years and one of them has affected air traffic.

“Never say never because mother nature is mother nature but this is a very big country and this is a very localised event so we do not expect this to disrupt travel.” The UK is hugely important to the island as it is the second biggest tourist group to visit every year with 201,102 flying in this year. Only people from the US visit the island more.

He said sadly bookings were down adding: “Unfortunately we have seen some cancellations and seen a slow down in reservations for holidays which is not good.”

Lucy Thornton