Sellafield Ltd yesterday announced enhanced funding to develop ways of transporting uranium reserves off its Capenhurst site in Cheshire.
The money will support the design of two projects that aim to reduce Capenhurst’s overall hazards and maximise the value of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) uranium assets at the site.
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.
“The rationale for this funding is to advance these projects to a point just short of construction over the next few years,” said head of the Capenhurst project delivery group Craig Rogers.
“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 - up to £100m - in the site to build and commission.”
Source: The New Civil Engineer
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