27 Jul (NucNet): Greater focus on the high hazard areas of the Sellafield nuclear site in the UK has been reflected by record levels of investment, with the site’s annual budget reaching approximately £2 billion ($3.1bn, €2.8bn) in 2015-2016, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said.
In a review of its work published today, the NDA said about one third of this is invested directly in the legacy ponds and silos programmes and that “significant progress” has been made in these programmes.
But the NDA, the body which implements government policy on managing the UK’s nuclear legacy, also said “major uncertainties” remain at the site, in Cumbria, northwest England, and that costs and schedules could change.
The legacy ponds and silos comprise of four main plants which were used historically to prepare fuel for reprocessing or store waste. They are: the pile fuel storage pond, the first generation magnox storage pond, the magnox swarf storage silos, and the pile fuel cladding silo.
According to Sellafield Ltd, which is responsible for carrying out decommissioning and waste management work at Sellafield on behalf of the NDA, radioactive materials have accumulated and remain at the ponds and silos since operations ended. For over five decades plant conditions have deteriorated and there is now an increased urgency to reduce the risk they pose.
“The facilities were not designed with decommissioning in mind so innovative technology is being used to retrieve the radioactive material for storage in modern containment facilities, ahead of its subsequent treatment, packaging and storage,” Sellafield Ltd said.
The NDA said large quantities of fuel and equipment are being removed from one of the storage ponds on a routine basis to be repackaged and stored in modern facilities. In the other pond, quantities of sludge, which have built up over time, are being pumped out into a new holding facility.
The NDA said there are more than 150 projects under way at Sellafield, 11 of which are classed as major construction projects. It is already the UK’s biggest building site and will become Europe’s biggest during the next decade.
John Clarke, NDA chief executive, said there are “major uncertainties” associated with complex, long-term issues at the Sellafield site. He said regular revisions will be required as understanding improves, which will lead to further changes in both estimated costs and work programmes.
The Sellafield site comprises of a range of nuclear facilities, including redundant facilities associated with early defence work, as well as operating facilities associated with the Magnox reprocessing programme, the thermal oxide reprocessing plant (Thorp), the Sellafield mixed oxide fuel plant and a range of waste treatment plants.
It began life in the early 1950s making plutonium for nuclear weapons, and later that decade became the location of Calder Hall, the world’s first commercial nuclear power station.
The NDA report is online: http://bit.ly/1JK37Ql
