Tag: engineering

Manufacturing Excellence: A look at SRP’s specialist glovebox lines

Posted on by tom.gannon

As construction of our Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant (SRP) progresses at pace, work to manufacture and test its specialist glovebox lines is well underway. Once SRP is commissioned, these gloveboxes will act as the beating heart of the plant, retreating and repackaging over 30,000 special nuclear materials (SNM) packages for long-term safe storage.

There are four glovebox lines being manufactured, consisting of more than 50 gloveboxes:

  • Group 400 Magnox Repackaging Line.
  • Group 410 THORP Repackaging Line.
  • Group 500 Residues Retreatment Line.
  • Group 300 Powder Retreatment Line.

The two repackaging lines are being manufactured and tested by NIS, and the retreatment lines are being manufactured and tested by Ansaldo.

Click here to watch part 1 of the video below to learn more about the importance of the equipment:

The Group 400 line recently completed Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and is now in a period of Integrated Works Testing (IWT). This IWT phase will see the gloveboxes fully assembled, powered up and undertake close to 400 operational tests to demonstrate the functionality of the equipment. It is an opportunity to fix anything that isn’t quite right and allows the team to test the process with dummy cans, rectifying any issues and providing confidence that the equipment can be delivered and installed safely on-site next year.

Click here to watch part 2 of the video below which features our commissioning engineers, based at NIS in Chorley, are testing the glovebox lines:

Sellafield has safely and securely managed plutonium since the 1940s, developing world leading expertise in the process and being recognised as the UK’s centre of excellence for plutonium management. The UK’s inventory of civil plutonium arose from the reprocessing of spent fuel undertaken over many decades. This was the process of taking used nuclear fuel and separating it into its component parts, one of which is plutonium which will remain radioactive and toxic for a considerable period of time.

It’s a mission of national significance and requires expertise across a vast supply chain. PPP currently works with 185 live suppliers who are delivering critical contracts across PPP. 49% of this live supply chain are SMEs, like NIS and Ansaldo.

SRP is one of Sellafield’s largest infrastructure projects and once commissioned will safely receive special nuclear material packages from existing storage locations across the Sellafield site before retreating them into new 100-year packages for safe storage. The SRP facility will enable all special nuclear materials to remain safe and secure in its store into the next century and beyond, and therefore plays a key role in delivering Sellafield’s purpose to create a clean and safe environment for future generations.

 

Collaborative language and visual tools will assess design maturity

Posted on by Ursula Hutchinson

PPP now has its very own collaborative language and visual tools in the model which assesses design maturity on its projects.

Taking Learning From Experience (LFE) from SRP and SCP major project baseline setting, PPP Services investigated opportunities to improve the design maturity definition and assessment process.

Kathryn Smith, PPP Programme Engineering Lead, said:

“A question we got asked a lot was how mature is the design, is it completed? And due to many factors the answer can be variable.

“We looked at various industry standards and those of our partners but found we did not have a common language. We used partner best practice to create a PPP application of Object Management and the Stage Build process, which defined the maturity of the design.

“This is now a common language we have developed for engineering, construction and supply chain so that everybody knows where the design is up to and what they have to do.”

Information is put into a model, which is then colour coded so people can see at a glance where the design maturity is at.

These processes support improved Engineering, Procurement and Commissioning (EPC) delivery and the delivery of the digital model containing all the information.

This provides in-project assessment tools and also support projects to demonstrate the maturity of the design to partners, client and external stakeholders.

This was initially trialled on RAP, testing the process in a design that was well underway.

BEPPS2 has taken this learning and embedded this process into normal delivery. The project can now provide visualisations of the design maturity to supporting understanding across the functions.

And LSS1 are embedding Object Maturity from the outset, planning transition points between the Aligned Delivery Team (ADT) and Key Delivery Partners (KDPs) to deliver the optimum outcomes for the client.

Tony Harwood, Deputy Project Engineering Manager  for LSS1, said:

“The Object Management approach has provided the project with a clear set of guidelines for maturing the design which can be easily communicated and understood by all.

“It has allowed clarity of communication and reporting across the whole delivery team without the need for technical specialism.  It is enabling a consistency of approach across all the engineering team to be built into our plans for the next phase starting from a strategic outline with flexibility to the needs of each project.

“The granularity of the specific rulesets mean every member of the team should be clear on the expectations so we can ensure the design is underpinned and progressed to the right level at the right time.  The alignment with a range of industry practices has meant we can onboard team members from diverse backgrounds and experiences quickly and efficiently to deliver.

“The expectation is that the use of Object Management embedded from the start of the delivery phase will allow regular clear tracking of metrics, quantities and uncertainties such that there are no surprises for our client and the project stakeholders.”

Glossary of terms:

  • Major project baseline: Is the baseline for cost, schedule and risk which are set for remaining engineering, construction and inactive commissioning of the facility. It is the baseline which the partners are incentivised against.
  • Design maturity: A measure of the required definition of a design at any point in the design process. It is the combination of object maturity and required deliverables for any given system.
  • Object maturity management: A common language that explains how far the model is through the design process.
  • Stage build: An assurance process to check the design is at the right point for a funding gate. 
  • Key Delivery Partner: Long-term supply chain partner / supplier.