Contractor pioneers use of pyrotechnics on concrete at Dungeness A power station.
Pyrotechnics have been used for the first time in the challenge to demolish the redundant turbine hall at Magnox’s Dungeness A Site.
Contractor Erith Group used 16 small Autostem pyrotechnic cartridges in the two metre thick concrete plinth above turbo-generator four condenser, with small bursts introducing an expansion of gas which caused the concrete to fracture. This is the first time that this specific product has been used in the UK.
An excavator was then used to make short work of removing the crumbling concrete in hours instead of days, reducing continuous dust and noise created during demolition.
