Sellafield receives effluent containers

The construction of the new Sellafield nuclear waste disposal facility in Cumbria has reached the close of a two year process, within the wider construction project, following the delivery of two vessels which will manages the disposal of effluents.

The two vessels, or containers, were designed, manufactured, and tested by the company, Bendall’s Engineering, at their Carlisle manufacturing base and are now ready to be fitted at the Box Encapsulation Plant at Sellafield.

Sellafield Ltd.’s Box Encapsulation Plant joint delivery team specified the purpose and design needs of the vessels to Bendall’s before commissioning their manufacture so that the containers were safe and met the requirements of nuclear waste disposal.

The Project Manager at Sellafield Ltd, Ewan Smith stated: “This is an important milestone for the project and I’d like to congratulate everyone involved. These are complex vessels which will play an important role in the plant.

“They are designed to collect and sample highly active effluent so it can be safely transferred to the specialist facility that manages the material. Bendalls’ work on the project began with a relatively simple contract to provide vessels to deal with lower activity effluent. These were completed and installed some time ago.

“During that work, we gained valuable experience that informed the delivery of the more complex, larger vessels. It’s a great example of how long term collaborative relationships with our supply chain partners can deliver results for the Sellafield mission.”

The Sellafield nuclear waste disposal facility was designed to assist in the 100-year nuclear waste disposal programme which Britain has organised to handle radioactive waste following the decommissioning of four legacy waste plants.

Sellafield was initially meant to contain the waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo but will now also manage waste from a further three legacy waste plants including: the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond, the Pile Fuel Storage Pond, and Pile Fuel Cladding Silo.

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