Nuclear engineering firm hits milestone

The two 400-ton Silo Emptying Plants (SEPs) have been built at the Spring Road factory of Nuclear Engineering Services (NES), each assembled from more than 13,500 component parts.

The SEP assemblies are called mobile caves and have been designed for use at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria to retrieve irradiated waste including Magnox swarf - fuel cladding from old power stations dating back to the 1960s - from 22 storage silos.

Each cave runs on a rail system and removes the waste using a hydraulic grab and tooling system.

NES has been designing and building the machines since 2011 and recently invited colleagues from Sellafield's operating company to mark the completion of the work ahead of schedule.

Mike Hawe, NES managing director, said: "We are delighted to announce completion of this significant milestone for what is undoubtedly one of the most complex decommissioning programmes in the world.

"NES has consistently demonstrated the skills and capability to deliver to unique and complex requirements."

Chris Halliwell, head of programme for the Magnox Swarf Storage Silos at Sellafield, added: "Decommissioning the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo is a key priority for Sellafield Ltd and we're investing a substantial budget in the complex technology to retrieve nuclear waste from this legacy store.

"We're under pressure to both accelerate the waste retrievals programme to reduce the risk and hazard posed by the historic waste and to provide value for money for the UK taxpayers.

"We are reliant on specialist suppliers such as NES to meet these objectives and we've worked closely with them to achieve this latest milestone.

"This is a significant achievement, however there's much work to be done before we're actually retrieving nuclear waste from the silos – my eyes are firmly focused on getting the waste out sooner rather than later to meet the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's (NDA) requirements."

Work will now move to preparation for test and commissioning, maintenance demonstrations and integration of off-board equipment.

NES says it has learnt valuable lessons from the contract, in particular for its work on the SEP 2 machine.

Among these lessons was the advisability of engaging at an early stage with its supply chain during reviews of the design work, as well as the introduction of an improved document control system to ensure better control of the work on the complex cabling and pipework systems.

Patrol inspectors were used during the build phase leading to improved quality assurance, along with increased visual management and improved health and safety awareness.

A company spokeswoman added: "The teams from Sellafield Ltd and NES have worked together to address the challenges of accelerated and compressed design, procurement and assembly phases, with frequent and consistent communication lines for project reporting.

"NES adopted a flexible working regime that included working around the clock, where necessary, to ensure that quality and programme standards were maintained at all times.

"The strategy driving this was to ensure areas of the build were not left for long periods of time awaiting issue resolution or clarifications, mitigating potential schedule delay."

NES has its roots in the former John Thompson boilermaking business founded in Bilston in the 1830s, which became involved in nuclear engineering in the 1950s. Since it was bought out from previous owners Rolls-Royce in 2003 Nuclear Engineering Services has enjoyed year-on-year growth.

It now operates from sites in Wolverhampton, Risley and Beckermet on contracts UK wide for the defence and nuclear power industries.

The company's turnover has reached almost £30 million while the workforce has increased to 350. At the same time it has invested in new plant and equipment including four state-of-the-art machining centres.

As well as its work on the decomissioning of the UK's aging fleet of nuclear power stations, NES is aiming to place itself at the forefront of new-build work.

NES has also invested in a new apprenticeship programme and taken on six to eight graduates a year to maintain the high levels of skills it needs.