Sellafield Plans New Radioactive Waste Solution for U.K. Site

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--Sellafield Limited (Seascale, Cumbria) has announced a £160 million ($255 million) project to remove radioactive waste from an old Pile Fuel Cladding Silo. Radioactive waste from fuel assemblies used in some of the U.K.'s earliest reactors at Windscale and Chapelcross will be moved from the silo, which has been deemed to be overloaded and inadequate.

The concrete silo, which has 4,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste, was in operation from 1951 to 1968. It was used to store irradiated cladding, which had been removed from fuel assemblies, to allow the reprocessing of uranium and plutonium for the purposes of the joint power and weapons nuclear program run by the U.K. in the 1950s and 1960s.

Three principal contracts worth £160 million ($257.51 million) have been awarded to Bechtel Babcock Nuclear Solutions (BBNS), which is a joint venture between Babcock International Group plc (LSE:BAB) (London, England) and Bechtel Group Incorporated (San Francisco, California); Sir Robert McAlpine Limited (Hempstead, England); and Clarke Chapman Group (Bristol, England). The BBNS contract, estimated at £150 million ($241.46 million), is for the design and construction of modules to handle the waste and pack it into 3x3-metre concrete storage boxes. Sir Robert McAlpine's £8 million contract ($12.88 million) is for the construction of a superstructure to retrieve the waste from the old silo. A crane costing £3 million ($4.83 million) has been ordered from Clarke Chapman to lift the storage boxes, which will weigh approximately 60 tonnes when full.

Commenting on the announcement, Keith Case, Sellafield's commercial director, said: "These are very important contracts that will be of great benefit to the local community... As a result of these contracts; Babcock has significantly enlarged its local office in Cumbria, while Bechtel has opened new premises. It is the stated mission of Sellafield Limited to deliver an accelerated reduction of the high-hazard facilities on the site in a cost-effective and safe manner."

The removal operations are scheduled to begin in 2017 and will be completed ahead of the construction of the new 3,200-megawatt (MW) nuclear plant, which is due to begin operations at the Sellafield site in 2019. For additional information see June 27, 2011, article - Final Eight U.K. Nuclear Sites Confirmed.

View Plant Profile - 3003964

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.