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Clean up continues at Sellafield
Located in the middle of the Separation Area a redundant storage facility has been successfully demolished, following the successful resolution of a number of major challenges.
In preparation for demolition activities Clean Up’s Legacy Ponds team undertook a huge programme of work to remove any large quantities of residual and orphan waste from the building.
This was performed in parallel, by the SPP1 Site Clearance team and Demolition Group, with the refurbishment of two redundant buildings within the separation area to enable personnel to relocate.
Once the building had been prepared, the demolition team began the challenging task of physically mechanically dismantling the heavily reinforced concrete structure, with walls up to four feet thick, in the last week of October 2005.
Now at ground level, work is ongoing to remove the concrete base slab and complete clearance of the site to make way for potential new treatment facilities to store waste from the First Generation Magnox Storage Facility.
Tony Price, Director of Clean-up, said: “This project demonstrates the Clean-up team’s ability to overcome the challenges of working in one of the most congested and sensitive areas on the Sellafield Site. This successful demolition is a visible example of the Clean-up organisation combining the skills and strengths of our own workforce with those of the supply chain to deliver complex projects.”
At Sellafield, initiatives are also underway to minimise the waste being sentenced to the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR). The project was challenged to re-categorise waste below LLW limits and recycle and reuse materials wherever possible. To date nearly 240,000 kg of steel has been categorised as suitable to be freely released as scrap material. In addition, 3,000 tonnes of concrete has been transferred out of the Separation Area using the Demolition Group concrete crushing and sampling facility.
Danny Nichols, waste superintendent, commented: “Over the next year we will be striving to further reduce the waste consigned to the LLWR. It is important to work together to ensure any waste created is minimised and managed efficiently.”
