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National asset redistribution promises major cost savings
HUGE savings are promised as a scheme to relocate major nuclear site assets, devised by Sellafield’s business improvements team, receives Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) backing.
The original idea of Sellafield improvements engineer Trevor Palmer and Wylfa supply chain manager, John Kane, to take equipment from decommissioning sites and use it elsewhere expanded to form an online marketplace of equipment between all NDA sites, with potential savings that could reach millions of pounds.
The online database enables free movement of assets between NDA sites or projects. Trial runs have already provided Sellafield with monitor spares from Capenhurst with expected savings of around £3,000. Instead they saved nearly £23,000 to be put back into the efficiency gain fee.
Any potential problems of safely moving assets between sites were overcome via intensive planning drawn up by Trevor with help from Karen Tremble, the rest of the waste task team and site movement liaison officers.
“The potential money savings is unbelievable by transferring equipment, because you are saving on waste disposals, storage costs, and saving people from buying new assets,” enthused Trevor, who is keen to emphasise the inter-team effort, especially the workers from Capenhurst and the support of Norman Vernon, head of logistics at Sellafield.
NDA nuclear engineer Chris Watson and Martin Robb, regional development engineer for Magnox North and Springfields are leading the project. Chris said: “The database will enable the movement of NDA owned assets between the sites and will benefit both the NDA and SLCs by helping to reduce capital expenditure. Re-using the equipment on another site will mean it will have a longer working life rather than just being disposed of at a waste facility.”
The system will run for a year as a pilot using assets from Capenhurst.
