A significant step forward in hazard reduction work on the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond has been taken at Sellafield with the commissioning trial of a new pond purge unit to treat radioactive pond water.
The expected benefits are a reduction in radioactive dose rates in the immediate vicinity of the fuel storage pond, a reduction in aerial discharges to the atmosphere and reduced operator doses during fuel retrievals. Read it all..
Press Release
Acclaimed author Hunter Davies is to play a key role in telling the story of the Sellafield nuclear plant.
He has agreed to edit a book featuring the memories of current and ex-nuclear workers and others as part of a large scale oral history project.
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Press Release
Costain’s current work on the Evaporator-D plant at Sellafield which is currently the largest nuclear construction project in the UK gives the company a strong position to benefit from approaching nuclear power plant construction contracts, believes its new Nuclear Development Director.
“The prospects are very good. There will be up to 12 nuclear reactors built in the next 10 years, a market that’s worth around £50billion,” says Alistair Smith. My role is to help Costain win some of the major opportunities in building these new nuclear power stations.”
Costain has formed a consortium, ConstructEnergy, with Sir Robert McAlpine, Hochtief and Heitkamp to take advantage of the potential opportunities in the nuclear new build sector. Costain will bring its experience from its current nuclear construction projects and its ongoing interests across the Power market.
Although the country’s economic situation has led to the Government cutting back on spending, Smith believes that the nuclear reactor construction programme will go ahead, both because nuclear power can be the cheapest form of generating low carbon power and because the construction programme will require no Government subsidies.
Additionally, with North Sea oil and gas in rapid decline and many of the older generation of nuclear power station approaching closure, new generating capacity is urgently needed. “Power utilities know that they need to invest in a mix of power generation technologies, including renewables, efficient gas power plants and nuclear to provide the country with secure, low-carbon and affordable electricity,” Smith commented.
Smith, 50, who has recently joined Costain from consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), hopes to bring a lifetime’s experience in the nuclear sector to win work for Costain.
Before his five years with PB, where he was Director of Nuclear services, he was with the National Nuclear Corporation (NNC) for 23 years. NNC was the organisation that designed and built the previous generation of nuclear power plants. He is Chairman of the Power Industries Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and holds the same position with the Industry Affairs Group in the Nuclear Industry Association, which represents the interests of industrial members in discussions with clients, Government and regulatory bodies.
Sellafield Ltd has today announced that the contract for the Highly Active Liquid Effluent Facility project has been awarded to the HALEF Partnership, a consortium comprising AMEC, AREVA and Balfour Beatty.
The contract requires the consortium to work in partnership with Sellafield Ltd to further develop the concept design up to a point where the project definition and design can be fixed in order to bound the subsequent scope, schedule and cost for the construction phase of the project.
The work will commence immediately and it is anticipated that this phase will take approximately two years to complete.
On the satisfactory completion and there still being a business requirement, this will be followed by a four year procurement construction and commissioning phase, which is scheduled to commence mid 2012.
Speaking on behalf of Sellafield Ltd., Allan Townson, New Build Project Strategy Manager, said: “We are pleased to be able to award this contract to the HALEF Partnership and look forward to working in close partnership with the consortium in order to deliver a safe, reliable and cost effective Highly Active Liquid Effluent Facility for our customer, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority”.
The Highly Active Liquid Effluent Facility will store liquid radioactive waste, which arises from nuclear fuel reprocessing operations taking place on the Sellafield site.
The facility will comprise a number of high integrity Highly Active Storage Tanks and associated process equipment housed in a seismically qualified concrete building.
Sellafield Visit by Chris Huhne Secretary of State for Department of Energy and Climate Change
Press
Sellafield Ltd was delighted to welcome Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Department of Energy and Climate Change, and Charles Hendry, Energy Minister, to the Sellafield site yesterday (Wednesday 26 May).
The visit also involved senior NDA personnel including Chief Executive Tony Fountain, Sellafield Programme Director Ian Hudson and Head of Communications Jon Phillips. Read it all..
Press Release
The first major project to be completed by Sellafield Ltd, under the ownership of Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) has just been delivered – ahead of schedule and under budget – for the NDA, Sellafield Ltd’s customer and the site owner. Read it all..
Press Release
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has allocated £1.5bn to Sellafield Ltd out of its overall budget of £2.8bn for 2010/11. This is a significant investment which is slightly higher than expenditure in 2009/2010 and recognises the NDA’s priority of focussing its resources on tackling our highest hazards. As stated in our Business Plan, published in March 2010, we require all of our sites to deliver efficiencies so we can maximise resources to progress the clean up and decommissioning mission. This is particularly important at a time of significant pressure on public expenditure. Read it all..
Press Release
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) yesterday, made an announcement about the future of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP). We have a duty to monitor the performance of all plants within our ownership in order to secure best value for money for the UK and to fulfil contractual obligations to customers. It is also required to ensure compliance with UK policy that the materials from reprocessing should be returned to overseas customers. Read it all..
Press Release
We are aware of speculation regarding redundancies at Sellafield.
The Sellafield Ltd vision is to deliver the NDA’s clean up mission safely and efficiently and, in doing so, become the site and workforce of choice for potential new missions.
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Press Release
Teams at Sellafield are nearing completion on a pilot scheme to segregate potential Plutonium Contaminated Material (PCM) from Low Level Waste (LLW), which could save the company up to £1.42M in disposal costs.
The work resulted in 865 bags of air–fed suits being reclassified as LLW (with no items being classed as PCM) rather than the original estimate of only 400. Read it all..
