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Technical and engineering teams form new partnership
Two newly formed directorates are working together to support the delivery of Sellafield Ltd’s operations and decommissioning commitments.
The technical and engineering directorates are responsible for the assessment and deployment of suitable technologies and developing fit for purpose engineering designs and services.
Led by Jean-Paul Griffon, the technical directorate will look outwards to source new or adapted technologies that could be used for modifications to existing plants or in the development of new projects. While Chief Engineer Tony Green and his team will look inwards to deliver engineering to the business and manage the introduction of that new technology.
“Tony and I will be looking to improve performance through technical applications,” explained Jean-Paul. “The technical directorate will be looking to identify emerging technologies and propose deployment of ready-to-use technologies that can improve safety, quality, or service delivery or reduce risk.”
A key interface between the two directorates will be the technology review board, which Tony will chair. This board will review all new or adapted processes and technologies proposed by the technical directorate against a range of criteria.
Tony added: “From an engineering perspective we will be looking to see that these technologies can be designed and engineered for the needs of Sellafield Ltd. If this proves to be the case then the review board will add it to the technology baseline. We will be advising the NDA throughout the process in the interests of developing solutions that could work at other sites across their estate.”
Outlining another important aspect of these new directorates, the development of the capabilities, Tony said: “By building on the strengths and skills of the current organisation, bringing in best practice from the parent companies and taking on board any PAIS recommendations I will be developing a fit for purpose engineering capability.”
And Jean-Paul agrees that building capability is the key to success: “The technical fraternity had already identified weaknesses and gaps within the capability and work was already going on to improve the situation. I have no doubt that we will be able to build the strong capability that is needed to face the site technical challenges.
Some of the technology review board criteria
• Safety case match
• Reach-back check
• Benefit/uncertainty
• Technical risk analysis
• Nuclear safety risk
• Competing technologies
• Resource constraints
• Application lead time
• TRAM (throughput, reliability, availability, maintainability)
