Tag: Gloveboxes

Manufacturing Excellence: Glovebox work underway at Ansaldo

Posted on by helent

Following the progress update on SRP’s glovebox lines on our recent PPP townhall, and the spotlight on our supply partner NIS, we’re now focusing on the work of Ansaldo in Wolverhampton, where the group 300 and 500 glovebox lines are being manufactured for our Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant (SRP).

System 501 of the group 500 glovebox line.
System 501 of the group 500 glovebox line.

The group 300 line is a powder retreatment line made up of 12 gloveboxes as part of 7 contained systems. This 25-metre-long line will be pivotal in retreating around 2,000 SNM packages.

The group 500 line is a residues retreatment line. This line is 41-metres-long, made up of 16 gloveboxes, and will be responsible for retreating around 6,000 SNM packages.

The group 500 line is the current focus. Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) has been completed by Ansaldo, and equipment is now being transferred to our commissioning team in stages. The first Custody Transfer Certificate (CTC) has already handed over electrical distribution equipment, allowing the team to begin energisation of the plant in a controlled manner.

Batch furnace legs, part of the 23 meter glovebox line.
Batch furnace legs, part of the 23 meter glovebox line.
System 505 and 508 of the 500 glovebox line.
System 505 and 508 of the 500 glovebox line.

Paul Carson-Clements, Commissioning section lead said: “Applying isolations was a key part of this work.

“It allowed us to demonstrate safe control of the systems, even while work continued downstream. My role was to oversee this process, keeping our team on schedule while working safely.”

The glovebox lines are designed to open, treat and repackage SNM packages, or cans, which will then be placed into long-term safe storage at Sellafield. Each line uses mainly automated processes, supported by operator input where required. Tools involved include package cutting, de-pressurising, repackaging and welding equipment.

Commissioning work is critical in proving the systems will do what they need to do, are safe and ready for arrival on site. Isolations and permits provide assurance to both PPP and Ansaldo that risks are understood and controlled before energisation.

The gloveboxes have been in manufacture and testing at Ansaldo for nearly two years, with transfers to PPP beginning three months ago. Despite the challenges of integrating into an established Sellafield process, cooperation between the teams has ensured progress has been safe and effective.

Looking ahead, energisation of the Group 500 line is planned to begin this month. This will see integration of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and programmable logic control (PLC) systems by the control systems team, marking a major step forward. As further equipment will be brought under PPP control, paving the way for input output checks and single item operations.

System 00 Package delivery.
System 00 Package delivery.

 

Group 500 glovebox line.
Group 500 glovebox line.

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.