Decommissioning progress on one of Sellafield’s oldest nuclear plants has taken a giant step forward with three significant new contracts, totaling over £160m, put in place to enable radioactive waste retrievals.

The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS) is almost 60 years old and contains over 4000m3 of historic radioactive waste which has to be retrieved from the facility as part of the decommissioning work.

The three contracts will be for the following:

• Silos Retrieval Facility superstructure – £8m with Sir Robert McAlpine
• Waste Retrieval Modules – £150m with Bechtel Babcock Nuclear Services
• Semi Goliath Crane – £3M with Clarke Chapman Group

Tim Davies, Head of PFCS Retrieval Projects said: “Sellafield Ltd has let these contracts in order to deliver an accelerated decommissioning programme that we have committed to and agreed with our customer, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

“This is a hugely significant step forward for the programme and represents the start of a new collaborative partnership towards waste retrieval and ultimate hazard reduction. We’re pulling out all the stops to drive forward this project by bringing in specialist contractors.

“Getting this important project off the ground is good news, as the PFCS represents one of the most challenging decommissioning projects and we’re committed to reducing high hazards at Sellafield.”

Dr Ian Hudson, the NDA’s Head of Programme for Sellafield said: “Risk and high hazard reduction is our main priority at Sellafield. Getting to a position to start radioactive waste retrievals from our legacy facilities such as the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo is crucial to the long term success of our decommissioning mission on the site. Successful delivery of the work covered by these contracts will be an important step in achieving that objective.”

Site preparations have previously been completed for the new PFCS Retrieval Facility superstructure; 130 piles have been sunk into the ground and the concrete foundations are in place. The Retrieval Facility will comprise a reinforced concrete superstructure to be built by Sir Robert McAlpine, with modular steel retrieval and packaging cells. The whole facility will be bolted onto the side of the PFCS, but will be structurally independent.

The engineering procurement and construction of the key retrievals modules will provide the heart of the PFCS Retrieval Facility. It will include primary equipment for the retrieval of the wastes from the six compartments and its subsequent packaging into 3m3 waste boxes. The completed modules will be slotted into the skeleton superstructure in order to commence retrieval of the silo waste in 2017 in line with the performance plan. Bechtel Babcock Nuclear Services (BBNS) has already started work familiarising themselves on the project as a precursor to completing the manufacturing design of the modules. The Clarke Chapman Group contract is to design, build and works test a Semi Goliath Crane to handle the waste packages coming in and out of the modules. The 3m3 waste packages will weigh in the region of 60 tonnes when full and will be transferred to a new purpose built storage facility currently in the design and construction phase. Nuclear wastes dating back to the 1950s and 1960s are stored in the PFCS. The store is almost 60 years old and is one of the priority decommissioning projects on the Sellafield site. In the last 10 years a significant amount of work has been completed in order to prepare for the retrieving this historic waste from the PFCS, which will allow the eventual decommissioning and demolition of the store.