NMP’s Decommissioning Challenges

The Sellafield site provides one of the most varied and challenging decommissioning portfolios in the world today, with both radiological and conventional hazards to overcome. Some of the greatest challenges include: Degraded legacy plants with nuclear inventories, some of which are UK highest priority The legacy plants at Sellafield date back to the 1940s and were originally established to home Royal Ordnance factories producing explosives for World War II. They were not designed with decommissioning in mind and were built to the standards required at that time, rather than the standards required for today’s nuclear facilities Diverse and highly constrained decommissioning activities The expansion of the site over the last five decades means many of the facilities are now tightly packed together. This creates additional challenges and restricts many conventional construction and demolition techniques from being used. Radiological conditions can also prevent manual operations and so remotely operated decommissioning vehicles have to be utilised in some areas. Requirement to upgrade and improve aged facilities prior to decommissioning The existing equipment was designed to put equipment into facilities, but getting it out again was not considered. Changes to the plants such as different contents to the original design intent create additional challenges to be addressed. The unknown In some cases, no current plans, drawings or records exist and decommissioning teams need to start from scratch, upgrading the facilities before decommissioning work can commence. Much of the work is also unique and has never been done before.

Decommissioning is accountable for the clean up of legacy wastes from over five decades of operations on the Sellafield site. Our plants are degraded and despite our care continue to deteriorate. The facilities hold some of the UK’s highest nuclear hazards and we are dedicated to expeditiously reducing those hazards. This will be done by designing, building and integrating waste retrieval equipment, preparing the facilities for retrieval operations and then retrieving and immobilising or treating the waste to put it into a safe state. This presents us with significant challenges, however by applying modern techniques and treatments to the decommissioning process we are able to deliver some absolutely excellent work, and deliver it safely.

Russ Mellor, NMP Executive Director, Decommissioning