By Alan Irving

Published at 11:08, Thursday, 10 May 2012

NUCLEAR Management Partners is likely to have its fee cut for running Sellafield, despite reducing one of the biggest nuclear risks.

Site managing director Todd Wright says “a significant hazard” has been reduced by sealing cracks in the wall of B30 – known for years as ‘dirty thirty’ – and also taking away redundant pipework in a high radiation area.

Robots have had to be used because workers could not be put at risk from potentially dangerous radiation doses around the deteriorating 60-year-old open pond which is being decommissioned.

But despite the success it looks as though NMP will lose a sizeable part of the fee it receives for good performance over the past year.

This is due to the problems and controversy caused largely by Evaporator D, vital to Sellafield’s longer term future.

It is believed to be around £100 million over budget from an estimated £400 million cost.

The NDA has told stakeholders: “Given our concerns around cost and timescale pressures a full review of the project is under way that will ultimately lead to an updated project plan – inevitably this will result in increases to both costs and schedule which are expected to have a knock-on effect of fee payable at the end of the year.”

For the first full year (2009-10) since taking over from BNFL as Sellafield’s parent body organisation, NMP received £47 million followed by £57 million the year after, both fees reflecting good performance.

The NDA also says: “While everyone understands the complexities of major construction projects on a nuclear site such as Sellafield the performance by both Sellafield Ltd and its contractors have fallen below our expectations and requirements.”

Sellafield Ltd describe the B30 success as a technically challenging piece of work in a high radiation environment using bespoke robotic technology using space ace software originally developed by NASA.

Specialist contractor SA Robotics helped develop the robotic arm in a mock-up rig in their facility just outside Whitehaven.

Sellafield Ltd said: “The work was carried out in a radioactive environment. To protect the workforce from unacceptable radiation doses bespoke robotics were developed in order to allow workers to undertake the necessary tasks remotely from lower dose areas.

“The civil structure developed a crack early on in its operational life which has been regularly monitored.”

Due to its age, deterioration and radiation risks, B30 has been described within the nuclear industry itself as one of the most potentially hazardous in Europe.

Radiation has been detected outside B30 but not beyond the site itself.

A Sellafield spokesman said: “What we’ve just achieved has made the structure much more safe and secure, it’s been a priority project, but the radiological content of the pond has still to be taken out. We can’t do that until we have completed all improvements to the building.”

The pond holds some 14,000 cubic metres of contaminated water which stores Magnox spent fuel, radioactive sludges, various nuclear wastes and skips.

A plan for retrieval and treatment will reduce an on-going storage risk and “the inherent hazard posed by the materials.”

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk