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Engineering Design Capability teams up with Capenhurst to save ?500,000
A PARTNERSHIP between Engineering Design Capability and the Capenhurst site has saved £500,000 from the costs of demolishing the UK’s first uranium enrichment facility at Capenhurst’s decommissioning site, using a combination of innovative structural engineering and historical records.
The saving was achieved by designing, manufacturing and installing struts in a roof to immobilise movement in an expansion mechanism. This mechanism formed part of the original design to limit the build up of stresses when the roof expanded and contracted due to heat from enrichment activities.
Ian Thomas, deputy head of the Capenhurst site, said: “This saving shows the skill and quality of the workforce that remains within Sellafield Ltd. In any other industry this job would have been put out to a specialist contractor but we have such a breadth and depth of knowledge that there was no need to in this case. The result is a big saving for Capenhurst and a well deserved boost in pride for those that were a part of this successful innovation.”
To help overcome the technical challenges, a paper submitted to a journal by a BNFL engineer in the 1950s was found. The paper, read alongside archived drawings, provided valuable insight into the original design intent of the building from which the engineering team were able to provide an innovative solution to maintain the structural stability of this facility while other parts were being dismantled. Capenhurst’s own workforce fabricated and installed the struts.
These movement joints sub-divided this multi-span building into separate smaller linked structures. The joints were originally designed to limit the differential movement between the main structure and the cells of the diffusion plant.
The innovation of locking up one of these movement joints would combine the strength of two independent structures and thus share the wind loading experienced by the building. This would avoid major construction work in an operational zone of the building.
It is hoped the £500,000 saving will be used to further accelerate clean-up work.
