Plastic fire main for New Lock in Terneuzen

You shouldn't think about a fire breaking out at the New Lock in Terneuzen. However, if it does happen, you can fall back on the fire-extinguishing pipes provided in the work. Supplier of the HDPE fire-extinguishing pipes is plastic engineering company RKT from Tholen. We speak with Pascal de Viet and Fabian van Oosterbosch of RKT.

Deployment guaranteed at all times

At the time of the interview, the crossing pipe at the outer abutment has just been worked out of sight. Van Oosterbosch: "This pipeline runs through the concrete from wall to wall. Work is now being done to raise it, every time it can we are called in to extend the pipes at four points. So we keep up with the planning. Pipes are tested by us for each elevation by pressurizing them and keeping them pressurized during pouring. When the pipeline 100% is declared tight, we release it."

Pipes in the concrete are duplicated, providing a backup line for the future. De Viet: "This way there is always a backup pipeline available in case of emergencies or can be switched on when more capacity is needed." Normally, RKT always looks at whether piping can be partially prefabricated in their workshop. This work is an exception to that. Most of the piping is prefabricated on site after which only the coupling welds need to be made at the bottom of the lock," van Oosterbosch explains.

Additional pipes added

At the outer head, the Ø355 pipes are already in the ground and hard work is underway to raise them. "Meanwhile, the scope for us has expanded to include more pipes and we are also allowed to carry out the measuring pipes in PE. These are in the walls and the water level can be measured with them. These come later," De Viet explains. "The method of installation is the same as for the fire-fighting pipes, only the testing method is less strict, working with less pressure."

RKT Tholen is a full-service supplier, eager to think along in solutions, supply and install the equipment and also perform the welding work itself. "That's quite a lot of disciplines. We have our own quality officer who handles all the paperwork around these types of projects," De Viet outlines. "Our work for the fire line consists of three phases. The first was the outer main, in concrete floor. The second phase in inner head, is similar to phase one and the third phase is laying the ring main around the lock, at ground level, as well as supplying and installing various hydrants."