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Capenhurst announces enhanced funding to progress two major projects
Enhanced funding has been announced for Sellafield Ltd to progress the development of two major projects at the site it operates at Capenhurst in Cheshire.
The two projects, which will be progressed to a point short of construction, could reduce the site’s overall hazards, maximise the value of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) uranic assets, and grow Sellafield Ltd’s Capenhurst management and operations business.
Phil Malem, Sellafield Ltd’s head of site at Capenhurst, said: “Sellafield Ltd’s assets at Capenhurst are its people and their experience – the NDA’s assets are its uranic material, storage buildings and spare land.
“What we’ve done is work in partnership with our stakeholders to create a new future for the site that matches the aspirations of both parties. Therefore, we’re looking at projects that could reduce the site’s hazard and help extract maximum value from the uranic material, while creating a brighter future for our people who remain at the site following decommissioning.”
The two projects are:
Export Capability Project – ECP will focus on two areas: first, it will ensure the entire stock of depleted uranium, currently stored safely at the site in mild steel drums, is repackaged to provide robust options for storage and possible future transport. Secondly, it will provide a new goods import/export capability and railhead on the site to minimise future road journeys at the site, both for Sellafield Ltd and potentially for the site’s other licensee, Urenco UK Ltd. This could reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with traffic to the site by 96%.
Cylinder Handling Facility – CHF will be designed to sample, characterise and repack into transport compliant containers the entire stock of uranium hexafluoride at the site.
Between them, both projects will facilitate accelerated uranic management activities which would result in substantial future storage cost savings, and potential revenue from material disposals.
Phil Malem added: “It’s been a lot of hard work, in partnership with our stakeholders, to develop our future and the hardest work is probably still to be done. But we’ve created an opportunity for the site to embed itself as a national asset that is key to the NDA’s hazard reduction programme across its estate.
“To have in our Lifetime Plan enhanced funding to take forward these new projects is a real positive for us as a team and we’re going to continue to demonstrate that Capenhurst is a key part of Sellafield Limited and a site worthy of future investment.”
Craig Rogers, head of the Project Delivery Group, which is responsible for delivering the development of the ECP and CHF, said: “The rationale for this funding is to advance these projects to a point just short of construction over the next few years.
“Our task is to demonstrate that we can deliver overall hazard reduction at the site and also deliver value for the NDA through the progression of these projects. If the answer is yes we’ll be looking at substantial investment in the site to build and commission, which is great news for our business, our customer, our regulators and the local community.
“My main objective now is to secure the resources to take these projects forward in a way that best supports the business case for their construction. Capenhurst is a place where 85% of the employees say they love to work, so I’m hoping that the right skills will be attracted to such a great location and a positive site.”
