Gate valves for Buncefield reconstruction project

In December 2005, a major emergency was announced at one of the UK’s largest oil storage terminals – Buncefield. A faulty highlevel alarm had failed, allowing petrol to fill and overflow from a tank; this led to a large explosion and resulting fire that led to nearby evacuations and a five-day firefighting effort.
The Hertfordshire site is currently undergoing a major reconstruction project, building eight tanks for the storage of 65,000m3 of fuel, with T-T Flow being approached to supply gate valves.

The T-T Flow team supplied five Aquavault DN300 resilient seat gate valves, three with manual handwheel operators and two with bespoke extension spindles to allow for safe remote operation.

Safety is the number one priority in any project; however, due to the site’s history, sourcing the most dependable equipment was essential. T-T guarantees the reliability of its valves through hydrostatic pressure testing (to EN12266), supported by unique serial numbers that allow for the tracing of each individual valve’s test results.

T-T’s range of resilient seat gate valves are WRAS approved and ideal for effective flow isolation duties within potable, raw and wastewater applications – rated to 16 Bar and with a full clear bore to maximise flow when open.

The Aquavault is designed for guaranteed reliability, with the wedge encapsulated in EPDM rubber to ensure consistent sealing performance and minimise the potential for leaks to occur and a fusion-bonded epoxy coating with corrosion-resistant properties to mitigate the risk of corrosion-related breakdowns.