Wash plant meets demanding nuclear quality requirements

More than £1.4 million has been invested at Hanson’s Whatley quarry near Frome in Somerset to produce high quality aggregates for construction of the UK’s new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

The new wash plant is the biggest investment at the site for around 30 years. It takes in 10mm or 20mm single-sized stone containing a proportion of dust from the crushing and screening process. An 80-metre conveyor takes the stone from the main storage bins up to a rinsing station, where the fine material is removed and stored for use in the restoration of quarry benches.

A 70-metre conveyor transfers up to 150 tonnes of washed aggregates an hour into four specially-built reinforced 15-metre by 12-metre concrete bays ready for onward delivery to Hinkley Point, where it is being used to produce high-performance ‘nuclear’ concrete, and must meet demanding quality requirements.

The wash system is the final part of a programme of improvements made to supply high-specification materials to the Hinkley Point project.