Break It Down

A look at how 24,000 tons of concrete and steel from San Francisco's Carquinez Bridge were dismantled and recycled for use in other structures. Included: procedural risks.

Railroads are the backbone of American industry. 170,000 miles of track crisscross the country from coast to coast, moving two billion tons of freight nationally every year. But nothing lasts forever, and that includes a couple of 180-ton locomotives. Their engine technology is inefficient so theyre headed for the scrap dealer where theyll be cut down and cannibalized. Any salvageable parts must come out intact for resale, while leftover metals like steel and copper will be cut up, melted down, and ultimately reformed into new products. In this business, nothing goes to waste. Get an inside look at the unknown world of scrap, where locomotives go to dieand be reborn.

The F-4 Phantom's speed and firepower make it one of the most lethal fighter jets in the world. Join a crew as they break it down to salvage parts -- a task fraught with danger, as each plane comes fully loaded with a Vulcan cannon, live rockets and turbojets. Then, witness the U.S. Air Force blowing an old fighter jet to bits for target practice.

In the intense glare of the Texas sun, a team of demolition experts attempt to cut down and recycle the Navy's "first and finest fast attack oiler," the U.S.S. Savannah AOR-4. This tough tanker ran fuel between the ships of the fleet for over 20 years. But now, she's making her final voyage to ESCO Marine, a sprawling scrap yard in the Southern most tip of Texas. Here, she'll be stripped down, gutted out and recycled. But the "Savy Sue" comes with an awful lot of challenges for ESCO owner Richard Jaross and his team. Asbestos, PCBs, and a decade of neglect make this once proud tanker one big mess.

In the extreme Russian North a team of engineers are ready to dismantle the a Typhoon-class submarine the worlds largest nuclear submarine, the Typhoon.

The Orange Bowl home to the Miami Dolphins for 21 seasons, and host of five Super Bowls is about to be demolished. Its a monster breakdown jobwith a monster deadline: In just four months, a demolition team needs to clear over a quarter million feet of stadium to get ready for a new stadium. Not only is there a tight timetable, everything must be salvaged or recycled. But before the team can break down the stadium, theyll have to save parts of it. After a memorabilia company combs the bowl for collectibles and auctions off what they salvage its finally time for the demo team to get their hands on the bowl. 50,000 left over orange seats, nearly 100,000 square feet of turf, and eight ten-ton stadium light towers are recycled or resold, freeing the demo team to take down the stadium itself. Using a combo of wrecking balls and mega machines, theyll cut, pull, and pummel this historic structure until its a bowl full of rubble. The iconic Orange Bowl, is about to be history.

The Pacific Northwest's epic rivers are home to primordial runs of endangered wild salmon and to river-blocking dams that generate power. What happens when the dams get too old? The Marmot Dam outside of Portland, Ore., is almost 200 feet long and stands nearly five stories high. Built almost 100 years ago, it's too expensive to modernize and instead will be removed. It will take engineers, explosives experts, river scientists and weather forecasters to construct the best destruction plan.

After more than 600,000 miles of hauling cargo, the Volvo FH12 Globetrotter has reached the end of the road and is headed for a breakdown. In Sweden, a country known for its "green" initiatives, Volvo's goal is for 95 percent of the truck to be reused or recycled. We'll watch a team of experts rip it apart, beat it up and melt it down. Then, at 10 feet tall and packing a 700-horsepower punch, we'll see it reborn, even bigger.

It's a megajob with megachallenges. Yankee Stadium – home to the New York Yankees for more than 80 years, and host to 37 World Series – is about to be demolished. And there's no room for error when working within feet of a subway system that can't stop running! The breakdown begins from the inside out as crews are first tasked with saving parts of the stadium — everything from the seats to the sod will be sold.

Chronicling the deconstruction and recycling of a 747 "Jumbo Jet."