Piling works completed on BEPPS2 ahead of schedule

Some of the BEPPS2 team watch the piling rig being demobilised.
Some of the BEPPS2 team watch the piling rig being demobilised.

Our Box Encapsulation Plant Product Store Two (BEPPS2) continues to deliver at pace as they complete piling works almost two weeks ahead of schedule.

Seventeen piles were placed evenly in the ground after careful coordination between the engineering and construction teams.

Completion of the works means the team can proceed with excavating the ground to a suitable depth to commence construction of the building service tunnel, which will link BEP to BEPPS2, for the safe transportation of materials for storage.

Once commissioned, BEPPS2 will provide additional storage capacity for intermediate-level waste packages arising from the site’s retrievals and remediation programmes. When full, it will hold approximately 7,500 packages across two vaults.

Stephen Hodgson, operations director, said:

 “This is a significant milestone and achievement that has only been achieved by working collaboratively with our key delivery partner, Sir Robert McAlpine, and their supply chain partner, Bauer.

“I continue to be grateful for the entire project team’s unwavering commitment to high standards and delivery excellence.”

Weathertight! Major milestone hit for SRP

Weathertight milestone - final roof pour on SRP

The final concrete pour on the roof slab of our Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant (SRP) process building has been completed. The latest achievement, for one of the site’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects, means the main building is now fully weathertight.

John Leslie, SRP project director, said: “I’m delighted we’ve reached another pivotal moment in the delivery of SRP, and I want to congratulate the team on their latest achievement.

“This is an extremely complex major project to deliver, and through our PPP delivery model we have collaborated with our supply chain partners Kier, Severfield and Mammoet to achieve another significant step forward.

“Delivering projects of this scale and keeping them on track, while keeping everyone safe, is no mean feat and is thanks to the collaboration and professionalism demonstrated everyday by hundreds of people across our supply chain all striving for excellence.”

Facts and figures

To complete this latest milestone, over 2,700 cubic metres of concrete from Sellafield’s new on-site batching plant was poured, pumped up to a height of 30 metres, over a 12-week period to complete the roof slab. Now the process building is weathertight, the facility’s internal and mechanical fit-out will progress, pushing the project closer to its active commissioning and operations in support of the government’s plutonium disposition strategy announced earlier this year.

Louis Twentyman, a graduate of PPP’s internship scheme and now a site engineering apprentice on the project, said: “It’s amazing to be part of a project the scale of SRP, and one with such an important role in the site’s decommissioning.

“Not everyone gets to work on projects of this stature and where there’s something interesting and exciting happening every day. It’s amazing seeing it progress and to be part of it all – I can’t wait to say I helped to build that.”

Confidence

The project is one of only a handful of the country’s major infrastructure projects to hold a ‘green’ delivery confidence rating from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects.

Once commissioned, SRP 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 material 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.

For more on this story go to: Flagship Sellafield project seals major milestone – GOV.UK.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

Specialist pump success edges SCP closer to next major milestone

Pump case

Our SIXEP Continuity Plant (SCP) team is edging closer to achieving its next major project wide milestone (PWO3), with the final remote maintainable pump passing its functional test.

Pump being removed from test rigManufactured by Hayward Tyler and Stainless Metalcraft, all six pumps were tested with a range of speeds and flowrates at Hayward Tyler, based in Luton.

The pumps are used to move effluents through the system and interface with maintenance flasks and similar equipment within SCP. The pumps are remotely maintainable so, should failure occur, the inner module may be taken to SIXEP for repair.

PWO3 Completion of pump & valve modules (valves welded in) remains on track to complete on time in the coming months.