The ITER experimental fusion reactor has secured funding to take it to the operational level. Sean Ottewell reports.

Following the European Parliament's endorsement of the EU budget for the next seven years, a research budget of EUR80 billion has been secured. Part of this will ensure funding until at least 2020 for ITER, the thermonuclear experimental reactor currently under construction by the ITER International Fusion Energy Organisation at the Cadarache facility in the city of Saint-Paul-lès-Durance in south-eastern France.

A fusion reactor is an apparatus that takes the enormous volume of fusion energy generated when light atomic nuclei in the reactor's fuel, such as deuterium and tritium, fuse in a plasma environment to become heavier nuclei such as helium. The energy released by this reaction is used to generate power.

Seven partners are participating in this large-scale international project: Japan, the EU, the US, Russia, Korea, China and India. Start-up is planned for 2020.

The funding agreement has been welcomed by Tim Hender, fusion programme manager at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) in the UK. The centre has gained long experience in fusion reactions with its JET and MAST tokomak reactors. "This is good news for European fusion research, for JET and, of course, for CCFE. JET and MAST can continue to address key issues for ITER and the planned work will also make significant strides in developing the DEMO prototype fusion power plant," he said.

Key to the success of ITER is the series of toroidal field (TF) coils around the central vacuum vessel. These form a magnetic 'cage' that confines and shapes the hot plasma (Fig. 1).

CCFE has gained experience of these with its MAST and JET work, but the coils on ITER will be much larger and create a stronger magnetic field. Any failure here could be catastrophic.

Based on its work on the back-up systems it has developed, CCFE has won a contract from ITER to update its magnet failure predictions systems.

"My role is to look at the 'what ifs'," said project leader Shangliang Zheng. "If a magnet fails, what effect will there be on the current and temperature? What will the consequences of thermal damage be? Recent advances in computing mean we're able to run more detailed scenario models so ITER can build on the comprehensive plans they already have in place."

In addition to the obvious need to guard against accidents, there is another, more immediate reason for carrying out the work. If French nuclear regulators are not satisfied that all safety questions continue to be fully addressed, they have the power to step in and halt design and construction of the magnets, which would be a setback for the whole ITER project.

"It makes sense to get as much information as we can about the risks, however minimal," says Zheng. "With something as important as this, prevention is far better than cure."

Another beneficiary of the ongoing funding is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The company has received an order from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) for the manufacture of two TF coils. The JAEA is the Japan's designated domestic agency for the ITER project and this is the third order that it has placed with MHI for TF coils. The ITER is to be configured from a total of 19 TF coils, including one in reserve, of which Japan has been contracted to provide nine.

MHI's role in the manufacture of Japan's TF coils is to provide the plates for inserting the superconductors and the containers to hold the actual coils. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is in charge of producing the coil winding packs.

JAEA has been undertaking development of fusion reactors since the 1960s, and MHI has been participating in this effort from an early stage. To date the company has taken responsibility for developing and manufacturing many related devices, including the JT-602, a core apparatus within Japan's own fusion research and development programme.

In other developments, ITER's council has approved a proposal that operations will commence with a full beryllium and tungsten divertor (inner wall). The original plan was to use a carbon-fibre divertor that would have been replaced during the second phase of operations with a beryllium/tungsten solution. This significant decision, which will result in cost savings of hundreds of millions of Euros for the project, comes after more than two years of R&D on the tungsten divertor that was supported by successful experiments and testing carried out in the Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus in St Petersburg, Russia, and on the European Tokamak JET at Culham.

In addition, the ITER test convoy - an 800 tonne trailer replicating the dimensions of ITER's largest and heaviest component loads- has successfully travelled the 104 km required from the site of manufacture to Saint-Paul-lès-Durance in order to assess the route. This successful precursor paves the way for the deliveries of actual ITER components which will begin this summer.

UK offers £13 million for nuclear technologies

The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has joined with other public bodies to open up opportunities for UK businesses, offering a total of up to £13 million investment for new technologies covering new build, current operations and decommissioning.

The collaboration is aimed at helping UK-based businesses take advantage of the opportunities arising following the recent agreement on Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear power station to be built in the country for almost 20 years.

The funds will be made available this year as part of a drive to grow a robust, sustainable UK supply chain through the development of innovative products and services for the nuclear sector. The initiative will focus on key technology areas such as construction, manufacturing, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning and waste.

Business and energy minister Michael Fallon said: "We are committed to nuclear power as part of the low carbon mix of our future energy supply. And through our nuclear industrial strategy we are working in partnership with industry to grasp the multi-billion pound long-term opportunities for UK companies and for thousands of highly skilled jobs. We want to build a robust UK based supply chain for existing and future nuclear power stations."

In 2012, £18 million was invested in nuclear R&D through a partnership between the TSB bank, NDA, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The 35 projects, which received funding following a competitive submission process, are ongoing.

In the nuclear energy industry more than most, safety is paramount and the design and specification used for equipment involved in nuclear generating plants are governed by a series of stringent regulations. Graeme Robertson reports.

The maintenance programmes in nuclear generating plants follow strict timetables with only certified contractors permitted to provide products and services, so when it comes to high voltage motors and generators, it is important to ensure that any repairs are going to make the grade.

Nuclear power generation makes up an important part of meeting the global demand for energy, with 31 countries across the world using over 430 nuclear power plants to meet close to 14% of global electricity demand, a similar proportion to that developed by the hydro industry. 

With so many people relying on the nuclear industry, it is essential that it operates faultlessly, which means strict adherence to maintenance programmes.

The typical nuclear power plant is segregated between the conventional island and the nuclear island, with the former containing the steam turbine generator and water cooling systems, which require large high voltage motors to ensure the huge volumes of cooling water are successfully circulated around the plant. 

As with any large rotating machine, condition monitoring offers a very useful insight into the performance status as well as the expected service life of the equipment.

The turbine within a nuclear power plant requires considerable support from a number of pumps and motors that ensure the condensate water and cooling water systems are maintained properly. In addition to the regular pumps, auxiliary pumps are required to provide support in the event of a breakdown, ensuring there is always sufficient capacity to maintain safe operation of the plant.

The required capacity of these pumps leads to the majority being powered by high voltage motors and many of them are now in excess of 20 years old. After so many years of continual stress the regular testing regime can start to indicate problems within the insulation system. Initially, these can be monitored without cause for alarm, but plans for a major overhaul should start to be put in place in order to manage the project effectively and efficiently.

Most equipment of this size contains built-in vibration and temperature sensors to provide live data, while periodic maintenance, inspection and testing can provide some further insight into the integrity of the windings in these machines. Some of this preventative work can be completed by in-house engineers, but in some cases it may be necessary to call in expert engineers to carry out a complete suite of tests and to produce a definitive status report.

Since they were originally built, the technology used in the coil insulating systems has moved on considerably, which means that when a complete overhaul is planned, the refurbished motor will not only provide another long period of service, but it can also operate more efficiently, reducing running costs and increasing the return on investment (ROI).

Sulzer is a supplier to the power generation market, especially the nuclear sector, providing customised maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) solutions for pump requirements and all LV and MV/HV motors including monitoring, test and assessment, rewind and repair services. This capability also extends to the turbine and main generators. Capable of delivering bespoke engineering projects to the highest standard, Sulzer has demonstrated its ability to meet the tightest deadlines, ensuring that power plants continue to operate at maximum efficiency.

For those involved in the operation and maintenance of large HV rotating machines, there are many choices when looking at the repair or rewind of such equipment. The key to a successful project is ensuring that those involved will be able to deliver a high quality product, precisely, quickly and with the necessary support to ensure a timely completion, regardless of how the scope of the work changes.

Graeme Robertson, Head of Operations - UK for Sulzer. 

Investments in the nuclear power industry are dominated by decommissioning, refuelling and safety projects, reports Eugene McCarthy

The United Kingdom Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has selected the Cavendish Fluor Partnership as the preferred bidder in the competition to take ownership of Magnox and Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL), the site license companies that manage and operate 12 UK nuclear sites. It is anticipated that this contract will provide savings in excess of US$1.6 billion (£1 billion) in the decommissioning programme for the 12 nuclear sites.

Cavendish Fluor Partnership will begin a five-month contract transition phase following a 10-day standstill period. Once transition is complete, it will become the new parent body organisation and take ownership of Magnox and RSRL.

“Being selected as preferred bidder is a fantastic achievement,” said Roger Hardy, Cavendish Nuclear’s MD. “The Cavendish Fluor Partnership brings together outstanding international decommissioning, operational and site management expertise and we look forward to working with the Magnox and RSRL teams to deliver the sites’ programme safely and cost effectively.”

Magnox is responsible for decommissioning ten Magnox reactor sites, located in England, Scotland and Wales, which were the first generation of civil nuclear power plants in the UK built during the 1950s and 60s. RSRL is responsible for decommissioning two pioneering nuclear research centres at Harwell and Winfrith.

In other good news for Fluor, NuScale Power – a company in which it is majority investor – has signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for funding which will support the development, licensing and commercialisation of the company’s nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) technology.

The DOE will provide up to US$217 million (£134 million) in matching funds over five years to help the Oregon-based nuclear power company develop its SMR design, which the company hopes will revolutionise the next generation of nuclear power plants. NuScale Power says the reactor technology can deliver the energy diversity needed to replace aging coal plants, to power growing populations and to reduce emissions, all while proving to be a safer, more flexible and cost-effective nuclear power solution.

Nuclear fuel deliveries

In Sweden, Westinghouse has been selected by OKG to provide replacement nuclear fuel deliveries for all three reactors at Oskarshamn units one, two and three. The contract includes yearly deliveries of fuel for their reactors during the five-year period of 2016 to 2020.

Under the terms of the contract, Westinghouse will produce the fuel at its facility in Västerås, Sweden. Westinghouse has been a main fuel supplier to OKG, having already delivered nearly 8500 fuel assemblies to the plants.

“This contract reflects OKG’s continued confidence in Westinghouse as a high-quality fuel supplier,” says Johan Hallén, Westinghouse vice president and managing director, Northern Europe. “It also helps us strengthen our position as a leading boiling water reactor fuel supplier on the European market which ensures a strong domestic industry employing thousands in Sweden.”

All three boiling water reactors (BWR) in Oskarshamn were designed and built by ASEA-ATOM, acquired by Westinghouse in 2000.

Westinghouse is a single-source global nuclear fuel provider for pressurised water reactors (PWRs), including Russian-designed VVER reactors, as well as BWRs and advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs). Currently the company is fuelling 145 PWR and BWR plants, and has ten nuclear fuel manufacturing locations around the world, including two sites in Europe: Springfields Fuels Limited in Preston, Lancashire, UK and Westinghouse Electric Sweden in Västerås.

In another business development, Westinghouse has confirmed an important strategic partnership with Czech company Vitkovice, in preparation for the potential construction of Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.

In accordance with the partnership, Vitkovice will join the Westinghouse/Toshiba/Metrostav team to jointly offer as a potential fabricator of key structural and mechanical equipment modules, should the AP1000 reactor be selected to complete the expansion of the Temelin nuclear power plant.

The AP1000 has been designed to make use of modern modular-construction techniques, which allow many more construction activities to proceed in parallel. This reduces the calendar time for plant construction, thereby reducing the cost of money and the exposure risks associated with plant financing. Westinghouse says that these construction techniques are already being utilised with great success in the USA and China – achieving significant savings in overall plant construction time and cost.

Key player AREVA has been selected by the operator of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) to provide services for the safety instrumentation and control (I&C) and electrical systems for Kozloduy units five and six The company also will provide its expertise for the replacement or adaptation of the main electrical generators, which will provide a 10% increase in the electrical power output of each reactor.

“AREVA has already installed its TELEPERM XS digital safety I&C platform at both of the VVER-1000 reactors. This new contract demonstrates our customer’s complete satisfaction and strengthens our position in the VVER modernisation market,” said Tilo Landgraf, senior vice president of installed base, AREVA Germany.

To date, the company’s safety-related digital TELEPERM XS platform has been installed in or ordered for 80 nuclear power plants in 16 countries for 14 different reactor designs.

In other news, AREVA has entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Japanese maintenance services specialist ATOX. Known as ANADEC, the new group will provide solutions and services in the field of decommissioning and dismantling of Japanese nuclear power plants. This joint venture expects to operate at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The two companies will combine their expertise to contribute to the stabilisation of the situation at the Fukushima site and its clean-up. AREVA says it will provide its know-how and technology in the field of decommissioning while ATOX, with its strong local presence and expertise in engineering and on-site operations, says it will adapt the solutions proposed by AREVA to the specific needs of Japan.

In particular, ANADEC will focus on developing investigative and mapping techniques for use at Fukushima, and develop robotic solutions to speed up dismantling of difficult to reach areas. 

Sendai reactor changes sanctioned

On 10th September, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) granted permission to Kyusyu Electric Power to make changes to the installation of two reactor units at Sendai. It follows an application by the company in 2013, which was later followed up with a number of amendments earlier this year. 

“This is a regulatory step to grant permission for the basic design of nuclear reactors and related facilities applied from the operator. The applied design and safety features of Sendai units one and two and were deemed to meet the NRA’s new regulatory requirements,” said the NRA. 

Next, the NRA will review the detailed design and construction of the nuclear reactors and related facilities as well as operational safety programmes including organisation systems and procedures for accident responses.

The NRA says its decision was a result of a careful review of the 18,600 page document from Kyusyu Electric Power, taking more than 110 hours all together, holding 62 review meetings and conducting field investigations for safety assessment.

All the meetings with NRA commissioners who are in charge of earthquakes or reactor facilities were made public live via the internet. After released the draft assessment on facilities, the NRA collected opinions through the public comment procedures, reviewed these opinions and reflected them on the results of its assessment.

In a separate development, the NRA says that 1,188 out of a total of 1,533 spent and unirradiated fuel assemblies in the unit four spent fuel pool area at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station  have been transferred to the common spent fuel pool on site.

Fig. 1. All three boiling water reactors at Oskarshamn were designed and built by ASEA-ATOM (sent as OKG.jpg).

Rebecca Weston, a senior member of the decommissioning team at Europe’s most complex nuclear site, will carry out her new position on the Board of Trustees with the Nuclear Institute (NI), alongside her full-time role at Sellafield Ltd.

The Nuclear Institute is a UK membership organisation representing nuclear professionals independent of company and profession. It supports the career development of individuals within the industry and aims to encourage new entrants into the growing energy sector.Rebecca has almost 15 years of experience in the nuclear industry, most spent at the Sellafield site in West Cumbria. She has held a number of senior positions across a range of complex operational, waste management and decommissioning activities.

PhD qualified, Rebecca is a Chartered Physicist, Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and has recently added an Executive MBA to her professional and technical qualifications. She hopes to apply her experience to drive forward the NI’s work to support existing nuclear professionals and attract new talent to the industry.

Rebecca said: “I am honoured to be increasing my involvement with the Nuclear Institute, which has been an invaluable asset to me throughout my career. My membership continues to be a great support to the nuclear specific aspects of my work.

“It is perceived that the Nuclear Institute is the professional institution solely for engineers and technical people, but this isn’t the case, it is there for anyone engaged in the nuclear industry. I hope to use my position on the Board of Trustees to nurture the skills and talent of others and also encourage more people into the industry so we are in the best possible position to drive forward the UK nuclear renaissance.

“I have been involved for nearly a decade now outside of my role at Sellafield Ltd, helping to promote the nuclear industry and the exciting career opportunities it offers, particularly to young people. I feel very fortunate to be able to apply my experiences at the Sellafield site to this role. The challenges at the site are unprecedented and the decommissioning work will take over 100 years, meaning it has presented me with a unique learning environment and will provide a broad range of career opportunities for decades to come.

“My perspective and experience of being a volunteer ‘on the ground’ helps me to relate to those carving out a career in the industry. I am excited to focus on the breadth of the membership and support the needs of all nuclear professionals, not just engineers. The Board of Trustees is very aware of our responsibility to promote the world class professionals within the industry to the public and to encourage new entrants into what is a fast growing sector.” 

Tim Chittenden, Nuclear Institute President, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Rebecca to the Board of Trustees, building on her experience as an excellent chair of the NI's Cumbria branch. We look forward to receiving the wider benefit of her knowledge and enthusiasm as we work together with our staff and members to lead the NI forward."

Following the Fukushimanuclear disaster in 2011, safety regulations at many nuclear plants have been considerably tightened, this has led to an increased demand for fire fighting pump systems.

These systems must comply with extremely strict requirements and regulations. Working closely together with the Belgian distributor Rental Pumps, BBA Pumps has recently completed one of the most demanding projects in its history – the delivery of nine mobile disaster relief pumping systems. These pumps are supplied to provide an extra level of safety in a large nuclear power plant.

The high pressure pump units are not only meant to fight fire – their main goal is to prevent a meltdown in a worst case scenario. In the event of a total black out, the pumps will be deployed to pump cooling water into the primary circuit of the reactor as a last resort. They can even be used to supply a boric acid solution in order to shut down the nuclear reaction completely.

Fire fighting pump systems are almost always supplied with customised features. In these situations, BBA Pumps uses the standard high head pumps from the BA series. These pumps are dry self-priming and are available with a maximum pressure of up to 25 bar/360 PSI. The specifications for the engines and total arrangements can vary widely between projects. For this nuclear plant project, the list of demands was exceptionally high:

* No fewer than 132 material and safety certificates were needed for each pump versus a minimum of primary technical engine safety features;

* Each pumping system had to be supplied with a storage rack, flow meters and other accessories, and be able to operate autonomously at maximum output for 24 hours;

* For logistical purposes, a three axle trailer with compressed air brake systems was required;

* The pumping systems had to pass a SQUG test for seismic activities.

The delivery consisted of:

* Four pumping systems, equipped with a high head pump type BA80H D275, powered by a Perkins four cylinder diesel engine, type 404D-22T. This pump supplies a pressure of up to 9 bar / 130 PSI and a flow of 130 m3/h / 572 US GPM.

* Five larger pumping sets with a high pressure pump, type BA-C150H41, powered by a Volvo Penta, type TAD952VE, with a power output of 234 kW / 318 Hp and an operating point of 20 bar/290 PSI at 130m3/h/572 US GPM.

The company responsible for safely cleaning up the Sellafield site in Cumbria, UK, has passed a significant milestone, after pumping two million litres of liquid out of one of the world’s oldest nuclear waste stores.

In doing so, Sellafield Ltd has halved the radioactive content of some of its historic liquid nuclear waste, significantly reducing the potential hazard posed by a fifty year old waste store at the site in West Cumbria.

Constructed in the 1960s, the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) was key to supporting Magnox nuclear power generation in the Britain. Spent fuel from plants all around the UK was sent to Sellafield so that it could be recycled in the Magnox Reprocessing Plant.

However, in order to avoid power shortages during the miners’ strikes nuclear plants around the country increased power generation – meaning that spent fuel arrived at Sellafield at a faster rate than the reprocessing plant could properly handle it.

Fuel cladding, known as swarf, was placed in storage underwater in MSSS with no real plan in place for how it would be removed and repackaged in the future.  The challenge would have been difficult enough then — but as the years have passed the condition of the storage silo, built of concrete more than 50 years ago, has deteriorated.

Since the inception of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2004, focus has been on decommissioning the store as quickly as is safely possible. For that to happen, all the waste stored in the silo, including the water in which the swarf is submerged, needs to be removed so that the building can be demolished.

In order for that to happen safe routes for the waste that is removed must be identified, with new plants constructed to deal with waste as it is removed. All this takes time — but significant progress is being made. Most of the spent fuel is now in such condition that it will never be reprocessed, and is classed as nuclear waste.

The swarf is stored under water in the twenty two individual compartments within the silo, but the water, used as a radiation barrier to shield the workforce and the environment from the radioactivity from the swarf, had been in the store so long that it had itself become a nuclear waste.

Engineers designed a system to purge the water by pumping it out of the store, and then use a clever chemical process to remove the radioactivity from it, with fresh water replacing it in the store, making the plant safer and the job of receiving the swarf easier.

In less than five years since the programme to remove liquid effluent from the silo started, two million litres has been pumped out.

Head of MSSS, Chris Halliwell, explained: “Back in the day, the MSSS literally helped keep the lights on by supporting Magnox electricity generation, however it’s now been retired from active service. The radioactivity we’ve removed and treated arose from several hundred tonnes of uranium fuel which during its lifecycle would have generated enough electricity to power over eleven million homes for a year.

“It was never built with decommissioning in mind and safely removing the liquid and solid nuclear wastes requires some ingenious engineering. We have now successfully removed liquid waste containing 10,000 terabequerels of radioactivity from the store - which equates to locking away roughly the same amount of nuclear waste discharged to sea in the Japanese Fukushima accident. Completion of this liquor transfer from the MSSS is an important step towards emptying the silos, processing the waste and safely decommissioning this legacy plant.”

The next stage will be to remove the solid waste inventory from the facility, process it and encapsulate it for safe long term storage. Three silo emptying plants are being built, the first of which will be brought to the Sellafield in a few months time.  This will undergo testing before being available for solid waste retrievals in 2017.

Magnox Swarf Storage Facility (MSSS)

* The MSSS received Magnox fuel cladding or swarf from the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond and the Fuel Handling Plant along with a range of other items of intermediate level waste. The swarf was transported in purpose built flasks and tipped into the silo compartments.

* The MSSS stopped receiving bulk waste in 1991 and alternative modern storage facilities were provided in the form of encapsulation plants.

* The Magnox swarf, which is almost 100% magnesium, is stored underwater. The swarf then undergoes a corrosive process which results in temperature increases and the release of hydrogen gas. The plant design and operations ensure that the heat and hydrogen cannot build up and risk exceeding safe levels within the plant.

* Between 1994 and 1999, a significant quantity of metal swarf was retrieved from the facility, by use of the Swarf Retrieval Facility. The waste was exported to a modern plant for encapsulation and storage.

* A Becquerel is a measure of how radioactive something is in decays per second. A Terabequerel is a million million decays per second, which releases different forms of radiation. Removing 10,000 Terabequerels is equivalent to 10,000,000,000,000,000 Bequerels. If all of this 10,000 Terabequerels were concentrated into a single object it would be about the size of a can of paint, however would be hugely radioactive and at a distance of about six metres that object would deliver 50 lifetime doses in less than one hour.

Following the discovery of thousands of additional cracks in critical components of two Belgian nuclear reactors, the Director-General of the Belgian nuclear regulator of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control called for checks on nuclear power plants worldwide.

The cracks were found in the steel nuclear reactor pressure vessels in nuclear reactors Doel 3 and Tihange 2 in Belgium.

The vessels contain highly radioactive nuclear fuel cores. The failure of these components can cause serious nuclear accidents. On February 13th, two leading material scientists announced that the pervasive and unexpected cracking could be related to corrosion from normal operation, with potential implications for reactors worldwide.

In reaction to the findings, the Director-General of the Belgian nuclear regulator of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), Jan Bens, has said that this could be a problem for the entire nuclear industry globally. He added that the solution is to begin the careful inspection of all 430 nuclear power plants worldwide.

Greenpeace Belgium energy campaigner, Eloi Glorieux, said: “Nuclear regulators worldwide must require reactor inspections as soon as possible, and no later than the next scheduled maintenance shutdown. If damage is discovered, the reactors must remain shut down until safety and pressure vessel integrity can be guaranteed.”

The problem was initially discovered in the summer of 2012. Both the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors have been shut down since March 24th, 2014 after additional tests revealed an unexplained advanced embrittlement of the steel of the test sample. The integrity of the pressure vessel must be absolute due to the radioactive releases that would result if this component were to fail.

FANC has subsequently issued a statement confirming that the additional tests conducted in 2014 revealed 13,047 cracks in Doel 3 and 3,149 in Tihange 2. On February 15th the nuclear reactor operator, Electrabel (GDF/Suez) announced that it would be prepared to 'sacrifice' one of its reactors to conduct further destructive tests of the reactor pressure vessel in order to study this poorly understood and extremely concerning damage phenomenon.

In 2012, the operator of the reactors, Electrabel, dismissed the cracks as being the result of manufacturing problems during construction in the late 1970's in the Netherlands, but still failed to table evidence for this assumption. The Belgian regulator also stated that the most likely cause was manufacturing ­ but could not prove it and added that it may be due to other causes.

The recent announcements of the materials scientist, whose concerns were echoed by Director-General Bens, indicate that this problem could be far beyond manufacturing. If confirmed, it means that the safety of every nuclear reactor on the planet could be significantly compromised.

There are 435 commercial nuclear reactors worldwide, with an average age of 28.5 years in mid 2014. Of these, 170 reactors (44% of the total) have been operating for 30 years or more and 39 reactors have operated for over 40 years.

As of 2015, Doel 3 has been operating for 33 years; Tihange 2 for 32 years.

In the nuclear energy industry more than most, safety is paramount and the design and specification used for equipment involved in nuclear generating plants are governed by a series of stringent regulations. Graeme Robertson reports.

The maintenance programmes in nuclear generating plants follow strict timetables with only certified contractors permitted to provide products and services, so when it comes to high voltage motors and generators, it is important to ensure that any repairs are going to make the grade.

Nuclear power generation makes up an important part of meeting the global demand for energy, with 31 countries across the world using over 430 nuclear power plants to meet close to 14% of global electricity demand, a similar proportion to that developed by the hydro industry. 

With so many people relying on the nuclear industry, it is essential that it operates faultlessly, which means strict adherence to maintenance programmes.

The typical nuclear power plant is segregated between the conventional island and the nuclear island, with the former containing the steam turbine generator and water cooling systems, which require large high voltage motors to ensure the huge volumes of cooling water are successfully circulated around the plant. 

As with any large rotating machine, condition monitoring offers a very useful insight into the performance status as well as the expected service life of the equipment.

The turbine within a nuclear power plant requires considerable support from a number of pumps and motors that ensure the condensate water and cooling water systems are maintained properly. In addition to the regular pumps, auxiliary pumps are required to provide support in the event of a breakdown, ensuring there is always sufficient capacity to maintain safe operation of the plant.

The required capacity of these pumps leads to the majority being powered by high voltage motors and many of them are now in excess of 20 years old. After so many years of continual stress the regular testing regime can start to indicate problems within the insulation system. Initially, these can be monitored without cause for alarm, but plans for a major overhaul should start to be put in place in order to manage the project effectively and efficiently.

Most equipment of this size contains built-in vibration and temperature sensors to provide live data, while periodic maintenance, inspection and testing can provide some further insight into the integrity of the windings in these machines. Some of this preventative work can be completed by in-house engineers, but in some cases it may be necessary to call in expert engineers to carry out a complete suite of tests and to produce a definitive status report.

Since they were originally built, the technology used in the coil insulating systems has moved on considerably, which means that when a complete overhaul is planned, the refurbished motor will not only provide another long period of service, but it can also operate more efficiently, reducing running costs and increasing the return on investment (ROI).

Sulzer is a supplier to the power generation market, especially the nuclear sector, providing customised maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) solutions for pump requirements and all LV and MV/HV motors including monitoring, test and assessment, rewind and repair services. This capability also extends to the turbine and main generators. Capable of delivering bespoke engineering projects to the highest standard, Sulzer has demonstrated its ability to meet the tightest deadlines, ensuring that power plants continue to operate at maximum efficiency.

For those involved in the operation and maintenance of large HV rotating machines, there are many choices when looking at the repair or rewind of such equipment. The key to a successful project is ensuring that those involved will be able to deliver a high quality product, precisely, quickly and with the necessary support to ensure a timely completion, regardless of how the scope of the work changes.

Graeme Robertson, Head of Operations - UK for Sulzer. 

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) new Nuclear Energy Technology Roadmap says nuclear energy allows countries to build scalable, efficient and long-term power sources that can serve as a base to underpin other forms of low-carbon generation.

The report says nuclear global capacity must more than double by 2050, with nuclear supplying 17% of global electricity generation by then, to meet the IEA 2 Degree Scenario for the most effective and efficient means of limiting global temperature rise.

The IEA's report highlights the need for stable, long-term investment frameworks to allow capital-intensive low carbon projects, such as nuclear power plants, to be developed. The roadmap also emphasises the need for greater certainty in electricity prices, including the cost of carbon emissions.

Agneta Rising, World Nuclear Association Director General, said: “We agree with the IEA’s assessment of nuclear energy as an important part of the generation mix needed for a sustainable energy future. Governments must play their part in creating markets that support long-term low carbon investments. Nuclear energy is much needed as it is reliable, affordable and clean. We in the industry must work to ensure that we deliver this in a timely and cost-effective way.”

Investments in the nuclear power industry are dominated by decommissioning, refuelling and safety projects

The United Kingdom Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has selected the Cavendish Fluor Partnership as the preferred bidder in the competition to take ownership of Magnox and Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL), the site license companies that manage and operate 12 UK nuclear sites. It is anticipated that this contract will provide savings in excess of US$1.6 billion (£1 billion) in the decommissioning programme for the 12 nuclear sites.

Cavendish Fluor Partnership will begin a five-month contract transition phase following a 10-day standstill period. Once transition is complete, it will become the new parent body organisation and take ownership of Magnox and RSRL.

“Being selected as preferred bidder is a fantastic achievement,” said Roger Hardy, Cavendish Nuclear’s MD. “The Cavendish Fluor Partnership brings together outstanding international decommissioning, operational and site management expertise and we look forward to working with the Magnox and RSRL teams to deliver the sites’ programme safely and cost effectively.”

Magnox is responsible for decommissioning ten Magnox reactor sites, located in England, Scotland and Wales, which were the first generation of civil nuclear power plants in the UK built during the 1950s and 60s. RSRL is responsible for decommissioning two pioneering nuclear research centres at Harwell and Winfrith.

In other good news for Fluor, NuScale Power – a company in which it is majority investor – has signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for funding which will support the development, licensing and commercialisation of the company’s nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) technology.

The DOE will provide up to US$217 million (£134 million) in matching funds over five years to help the Oregon-based nuclear power company develop its SMR design, which the company hopes will revolutionise the next generation of nuclear power plants. NuScale Power says the reactor technology can deliver the energy diversity needed to replace aging coal plants, to power growing populations and to reduce emissions, all while proving to be a safer, more flexible and cost-effective nuclear power solution.

Nuclear fuel deliveries

In Sweden, Westinghouse has been selected by OKG to provide replacement nuclear fuel deliveries for all three reactors at Oskarshamn units one, two and three. The contract includes yearly deliveries of fuel for their reactors during the five-year period of 2016 to 2020.

Under the terms of the contract, Westinghouse will produce the fuel at its facility in Västerås, Sweden. Westinghouse has been a main fuel supplier to OKG, having already delivered nearly 8500 fuel assemblies to the plants.

“This contract reflects OKG’s continued confidence in Westinghouse as a high-quality fuel supplier,” says Johan Hallén, Westinghouse vice president and managing director, Northern Europe. “It also helps us strengthen our position as a leading boiling water reactor fuel supplier on the European market which ensures a strong domestic industry employing thousands in Sweden.”

All three boiling water reactors (BWR) in Oskarshamn were designed and built by ASEA-ATOM, acquired by Westinghouse in 2000.

Westinghouse is a single-source global nuclear fuel provider for pressurised water reactors (PWRs), including Russian-designed VVER reactors, as well as BWRs and advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs). Currently the company is fuelling 145 PWR and BWR plants, and has ten nuclear fuel manufacturing locations around the world, including two sites in Europe: Springfields Fuels Limited in Preston, Lancashire, UK and Westinghouse Electric Sweden in Västerås.

In another business development, Westinghouse has confirmed an important strategic partnership with Czech company Vitkovice, in preparation for the potential construction of Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.

In accordance with the partnership, Vitkovice will join the Westinghouse/Toshiba/Metrostav team to jointly offer as a potential fabricator of key structural and mechanical equipment modules, should the AP1000 reactor be selected to complete the expansion of the Temelin nuclear power plant.

The AP1000 has been designed to make use of modern modular-construction techniques, which allow many more construction activities to proceed in parallel. This reduces the calendar time for plant construction, thereby reducing the cost of money and the exposure risks associated with plant financing. Westinghouse says that these construction techniques are already being utilised with great success in the USA and China – achieving significant savings in overall plant construction time and cost.

Key player AREVA has been selected by the operator of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) to provide services for the safety instrumentation and control (I&C) and electrical systems for Kozloduy units five and six The company also will provide its expertise for the replacement or adaptation of the main electrical generators, which will provide a 10% increase in the electrical power output of each reactor.

“AREVA has already installed its TELEPERM XS digital safety I&C platform at both of the VVER-1000 reactors. This new contract demonstrates our customer’s complete satisfaction and strengthens our position in the VVER modernisation market,” said Tilo Landgraf, senior vice president of installed base, AREVA Germany.

To date, the company’s safety-related digital TELEPERM XS platform has been installed in or ordered for 80 nuclear power plants in 16 countries for 14 different reactor designs.

In other news, AREVA has entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Japanese maintenance services specialist ATOX. Known as ANADEC, the new group will provide solutions and services in the field of decommissioning and dismantling of Japanese nuclear power plants. This joint venture expects to operate at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The two companies will combine their expertise to contribute to the stabilisation of the situation at the Fukushima site and its clean-up. AREVA says it will provide its know-how and technology in the field of decommissioning while ATOX, with its strong local presence and expertise in engineering and on-site operations, says it will adapt the solutions proposed by AREVA to the specific needs of Japan.

In particular, ANADEC will focus on developing investigative and mapping techniques for use at Fukushima, and develop robotic solutions to speed up dismantling of difficult to reach areas. 

Sendai reactor changes sanctioned

On 10th September, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) granted permission to Kyusyu Electric Power to make changes to the installation of two reactor units at Sendai. It follows an application by the company in 2013, which was later followed up with a number of amendments earlier this year. 

“This is a regulatory step to grant permission for the basic design of nuclear reactors and related facilities applied from the operator. The applied design and safety features of Sendai units one and two and were deemed to meet the NRA’s new regulatory requirements,” said the NRA. 

Next, the NRA will review the detailed design and construction of the nuclear reactors and related facilities as well as operational safety programmes including organisation systems and procedures for accident responses.

The NRA says its decision was a result of a careful review of the 18,600 page document from Kyusyu Electric Power, taking more than 110 hours all together, holding 62 review meetings and conducting field investigations for safety assessment.

All the meetings with NRA commissioners who are in charge of earthquakes or reactor facilities were made public live via the internet. After released the draft assessment on facilities, the NRA collected opinions through the public comment procedures, reviewed these opinions and reflected them on the results of its assessment.

In a separate development, the NRA says that 1,188 out of a total of 1,533 spent and unirradiated fuel assemblies in the unit four spent fuel pool area at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station  have been transferred to the common spent fuel pool on site.

Fig. 1. All three boiling water reactors at Oskarshamn were designed and built by ASEA-ATOM (sent as OKG.jpg).

The International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants takes place 3rd-6th May 2015 in Nice, France.

For the 2015 event, two new workshops addressing current and future challenges of nuclear energy will take place:

* Nuclear Power and Climate change: as a low-carbon energy, nuclear is a part of the solution to protect clean air and healthy communities. ICAPP 2015 is the opportunity to demonstrate the vital importance of nuclear to fight efficiently climate change.

* New and Rising Nuclear Countries: the increase of installed capacities in China, India, Korea, Russia and newcomers raises the question of conditions for success

More than 500 technical abstracts have also been received from 40 countries.

Sellafield Ltd removes 100 tonnes of contaminated equipment from world’s biggest open-air nuclear store

Nuclear experts at Sellafield in the UK have successfully removed one hundred tonnes of contaminated redundant equipment from the oldest fuel storage pond at Europe’s oldest and most complex nuclear site.

The 60-year-old pond, known as the Pile Fuel Storage Pond (PFSP), has to be emptied carefully as part of a plan to clean-up and decommission the oldest nuclear facilities in the UK.

The metal waste retrieved from the ageing facility is the equivalent in weight of a blue whale or a Boeing 757 aeroplane.  Although there remains a further 650 tonnes of contaminated metal to be retrieved from the pond,  removal of the first 100 tonnes demonstrates great progress on the programme to successfully decommission the facility.

The pond was initially constructed to store fuel from the Windscale Pile reactors, whose primary focus was producing plutonium for the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

The storage pond stopped receiving fuel in the 1970s, but to this day the PFSP remains the largest open air nuclear storage pond in the world, at 100 metres long.

Dorothy Gradden, head of programme delivery in the Pile Fuel Storage Pond, said: “Our nuclear forefathers developed a technology that helped the UK secure a seat at the global power table in the aftermath of the Second World War. The oldest plants at Sellafield were built in a time before computers existed and with little thought given to how they would be decommissioned. The challenge for this generation of nuclear pioneers is to safely decommission those earliest facilities as cost effectively as we can.

“When you are decommissioning a facility as old as this, issues can and do arise which mean that carefully laid plans and schedules need to be changed – and this happened frequently for us and the operations team has developed additional skills to meet all new challenges."

Derek Carlisle, PFSP head of projects said: “Sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate the decommissioning progress being made, because by the very nature of what we are doing things can take a long time and seem to cost a lot of money.

“However, when you think about 100 tonnes of equipment – the size of a whale or a Boeing 757 – it really does give you some scale as to the difficulty in removing that much mass from the biggest, and one of the oldest, nuclear storage ponds in the world.”

The PFSP was the very first nuclear fuel storage pond constructed at Sellafield. Construction started in 1948 and the pond was commissioned and started to receive fuel in 1952.

Originally nuclear fuel from the Windscale piles – constructed specifically to make plutonium for the UK’s nuclear deterrent – was received, de-canned and cooled in the facility.

Later in the 1950s the pond was adapted to receive fuel from Magnox power stations, the first of which in the world, Calder Hall, was opened at Sellafield in 1956.

Following the closure of the Windscale Pile reactors and the commissioning of the new First Generation Magnox Fuel Storage Pond, operations in PFSP were scaled down.  When decanning in the plant stopped in 1962 the pond continued to be used as storage for fuel, contaminated items, and operational waste.

Derek added: “The 100 tonnes of contaminated metal we have removed so far has been cleaned up for disposal in the national Low Level Waste Repository near Drigg.”

Highlights in the retrievals programme to date include:

* Removal of the very last remaining pile fuel decanner, weighing in at over one tonne;  
* Recovery of two tall tools or masts – similar in height to an average two-storey house - lifted from the pond and size reduced in situ;
* Eight of the 30 waste and transport flasks recovered each weighing 2-3 tonnes;
* Stripping out and export of redundant metal structures above and below the water line in the pond bays.
 
For more information, visit www.sellafieldsites.com

In the nuclear energy industry more than most, safety is paramount and the design and specification used for equipment involved in nuclear generating plants are governed by a series of stringent regulations. Graeme Robertson reports.

The maintenance programmes in nuclear generating plants follow strict timetables with only certified contractors permitted to provide products and services, so when it comes to high voltage motors and generators, it is important to ensure that any repairs are going to make the grade.

Nuclear power generation makes up an important part of meeting the global demand for energy, with 31 countries across the world using over 430 nuclear power plants to meet close to 14% of global electricity demand, a similar proportion to that developed by the hydro industry. 

With so many people relying on the nuclear industry, it is essential that it operates faultlessly, which means strict adherence to maintenance programmes.

The typical nuclear power plant is segregated between the conventional island and the nuclear island, with the former containing the steam turbine generator and water cooling systems, which require large high voltage motors to ensure the huge volumes of cooling water are successfully circulated around the plant. 

As with any large rotating machine, condition monitoring offers a very useful insight into the performance status as well as the expected service life of the equipment.

The turbine within a nuclear power plant requires considerable support from a number of pumps and motors that ensure the condensate water and cooling water systems are maintained properly. In addition to the regular pumps, auxiliary pumps are required to provide support in the event of a breakdown, ensuring there is always sufficient capacity to maintain safe operation of the plant.

The required capacity of these pumps leads to the majority being powered by high voltage motors and many of them are now in excess of 20 years old. After so many years of continual stress the regular testing regime can start to indicate problems within the insulation system. Initially, these can be monitored without cause for alarm, but plans for a major overhaul should start to be put in place in order to manage the project effectively and efficiently.

Most equipment of this size contains built-in vibration and temperature sensors to provide live data, while periodic maintenance, inspection and testing can provide some further insight into the integrity of the windings in these machines. Some of this preventative work can be completed by in-house engineers, but in some cases it may be necessary to call in expert engineers to carry out a complete suite of tests and to produce a definitive status report.

Since they were originally built, the technology used in the coil insulating systems has moved on considerably, which means that when a complete overhaul is planned, the refurbished motor will not only provide another long period of service, but it can also operate more efficiently, reducing running costs and increasing the return on investment (ROI).

Sulzer is a supplier to the power generation market, especially the nuclear sector, providing customised maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) solutions for pump requirements and all LV and MV/HV motors including monitoring, test and assessment, rewind and repair services. This capability also extends to the turbine and main generators. Capable of delivering bespoke engineering projects to the highest standard, Sulzer has demonstrated its ability to meet the tightest deadlines, ensuring that power plants continue to operate at maximum efficiency.

For those involved in the operation and maintenance of large HV rotating machines, there are many choices when looking at the repair or rewind of such equipment. The key to a successful project is ensuring that those involved will be able to deliver a high quality product, precisely, quickly and with the necessary support to ensure a timely completion, regardless of how the scope of the work changes.

Graeme Robertson, Head of Operations - UK for Sulzer. 

Mini submarines are being used to recover medical isotopes dating back to the 1950s, from storage ponds at Europe’s most complex nuclear site.

There are literally hundreds of different nuclear fuels and waste types in the historic storage ponds and these includes cobalt isotope cartridges produced for medical purposes, such as lifesaving radiotherapy treatment and the sterilisation of medical supplies.

The project will see hundreds of the cartridges retrieved from Sellafield’s Pile Fuel Storage Pond (PFSP) and First Generation Magnox Storage Ponds (FGMSP), which are high priority legacy nuclear plants on the site in West Cumbria, UK.

“We reckon there are about 800 of these cobalt cartridges, which were produced for a wide variety of medical and industrial uses. These included external beam radiotherapy, sterilisation of medical supplies and medical waste, sterilisation of food and industrial radiotherapy including weld integrity radiographs.” Head of PFSP, Paul Nichol said.

“These particular cartridges were irradiated in the early Magnox reactors at Calder Hall and Chapelcross have been safely stored in the pond since the 1950s and 60s. There are also a small number of cobalt isotopes that were discharged from the Windscale Pile reactors when they were shutdown and de-fuelled after the Windscale Fire in 1957.

“The Windscale Piles are probably best known for producing materials for the defence industry, however they were also the principal supplier of nuclear isotopes for research, medical and industrial uses created in the heart of the pioneering graphite reactors.”

Radiation is widely used in the medical industry with the most well-known uses being x-rays, scans and radiotherapy for the treatment of serious diseases, and the radioactive isotope sources need to be safely disposed of in the same manner as any other nuclear material.

The cobalt cartridges are stored underwater in open top skips and the team of experts at Sellafield Ltd is using Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) in the form of mini submarines to retrieve the individual cartridges, which are one metre long and around 6kg in weight.

Dorothy Gradden, Head of FGMSP said: “It is often forgotten that radiation has many uses outside of the nuclear industry and it has brought many benefits to medicine over the decades, however  like any nuclear waste, the material still needs to be disposed of in a safety conscious manner, so the same rigorous principles apply.

“A few years ago remotely operated vehicles were thought of as expensive toys, but they are now becoming an integral part of our plan to clean up for our legacy fuel storage ponds.  We are now seeing the removal of decades-old material from Sellafield’s legacy ponds on a daily basis, significantly reducing the hazard at these historic facilities.”

The success of the ROV project has been unprecedented, and the focus on continuous research and deployment of new ROVs has directly impacted on the Sellafield site clean-up to date.

Dorothy added: “We have developed the ROV capability to deal with underwater, hazardous problems that need to be dealt with remotely and I’m proud to say that even the US Navy has implemented some of our innovations developed here at Sellafield.

“New potential uses for ROVs include floating fuel skips and large pieces of kit off the pond floor, after all if they can lift a sunken cruise ship from the sea bed, why can’t we lift skips that our in-pond crane can’t reach?”

Cobalt has a fairly short half-life, which means the radiation naturally decays quickly, however this material still requires careful handling.  ROVs are therefore used to safely repackage the cartridges to minimise the radiation dose to the workforce.

ROVs were initially only used to inspect pond contents and the pond structure, however they’re now doing much more.  Sellafield Ltd recently announced a major step in the clean-up of Europe’s most complex nuclear site with the removal of the first radioactive sludge from the FGMSP with a little help from ROVs.

Sellafield Ltd, the company responsible for delivering decommissioning of the UK’s nuclear legacy has announced that Metalcraft has been awarded a contract potentially valued at £50 million, for the provision of high-integrity stainless steel storage containers for nuclear waste.

Metalcraft was chosen not just because of the quality and value for money it could offer to fulfil the contract to the standards required to store nuclear waste, but in particular the socio-economic commitments it made to deliver a package which includes new jobs, apprenticeships and training development to advance the capability of manufacturing skills.

In addition Metalcraft has committed to a new facility in West Cumbria for the finishing of boxes for the Phase 2 contract, subject to successful sanction to proceed.

The three metre cube boxes will provide a safe and secure storage solution for historic nuclear waste that is to be retrieved from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo on the Sellafield site. Some 2,200 three metre cube boxes will be manufactured.

Retrieving waste from this facility is an integral part of the long term plan to reduce the hazard on Europe’s most complex nuclear site, by cleaning up and decommissioning the oldest facilities, some of which date back to the 1940s.

This contract is the first of two contracts to be let to ensure security of supply and an announcement will be made on the second contract shortly.  The initial stage will prove volume production can be achieved to the required quality and throughput rate, and then steady state volume production will manufacture the bulk of the boxes.

This is also the first programme of boxes required for the storage of historic nuclear waste at Sellafield and a second larger programme will require the manufacture of thousands more boxes in support of decommissioning a second historic waste storage silo.

The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS) was developed in the late 1940s, built in 1951, and officially began to receive waste in 1952.  Its primary role was to store radioactive fuel cladding from the military Windscale Piles and later from Calder Hall and Chapelcross Magnox reactors.

Sellafield Ltd, the company responsible for delivering decommissioning of the UK’s nuclear legacy has announced that Metalcraft has been awarded a contract potentially valued at £50 million, for the provision of high-integrity stainless steel storage containers for nuclear waste.

Metalcraft was chosen not just because of the quality and value for money it could offer to fulfil the contract to the standards required to store nuclear waste, but in particular the socio-economic commitments it made to deliver a package which includes new jobs, apprenticeships and training development to advance the capability of manufacturing skills.

In addition Metalcraft has committed to a new facility in West Cumbria for the finishing of boxes for the Phase 2 contract, subject to successful sanction to proceed.

The three metre cube boxes will provide a safe and secure storage solution for historic nuclear waste that is to be retrieved from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo on the Sellafield site. Some 2,200 three metre cube boxes will be manufactured.

Retrieving waste from this facility is an integral part of the long term plan to reduce the hazard on Europe’s most complex nuclear site, by cleaning up and decommissioning the oldest facilities, some of which date back to the 1940s.

This contract is the first of two contracts to be let to ensure security of supply and an announcement will be made on the second contract shortly.  The initial stage will prove volume production can be achieved to the required quality and throughput rate, and then steady state volume production will manufacture the bulk of the boxes.

This is also the first programme of boxes required for the storage of historic nuclear waste at Sellafield and a second larger programme will require the manufacture of thousands more boxes in support of decommissioning a second historic waste storage silo.

The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS) was developed in the late 1940s, built in 1951, and officially began to receive waste in 1952.  Its primary role was to store radioactive fuel cladding from the military Windscale Piles and later from Calder Hall and Chapelcross Magnox reactors.

ECS has won five steel fabrication contacts for customers within the nuclear power industry. Following on from a move to new, larger premises and successful certification under BS EN 1090 for CE marking, the company has now completed the lengthy pre-qualification process to allow production to start on 49 duct cradles for a nuclear plant in the UK.

John Cotterill, Operations Director for ECS, explains: "In all, this project will cover a six month period, due to the high standards required by the industry. Before any actual fabrication starts there is considerable work to be done in demonstrating that ECS is able to meet the high quality standards required as well as providing information on the quality management system and the skills of our engineers."

The current project involves the fabrication of 49 duct cradles, which are being used to support sections of duct within the main reactor building. Two different sizes have been specified, one 1800mm and the other, 1400mm wide, with each cradle taking around 80 hours to complete.

The design consists of a channel framed structure with plate-work supports to ensure that the completed frame has sufficient strength to carry the weight of the stainless steel duct. Heavy duty castors are used to move the cradles into position after which they are removed and the cradle is fixed in place.

This project was designated as EXC class 3 under BS EN 1090, which is a classification defined under the CE Marking regulations. When ECS began the certification process it opted for the more arduous EXC3 option which includes buildings and bridges. This means that the quality processes and manufacturing expertise is appropriate for EXC3 projects as well as all those in the lower classifications.

John Cotterill concludes: “Our new fabrication facility allows the design and drawing offices to be located right next to the fabrication facility, which makes every project as efficient and cost effective as possible. The level of expertise and dedication to quality combined with all the recent changes within the fabrication division have helped ECS to expand into supplying the nuclear power industry.”

Balfour Beatty Bailey, a joint venture of Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, and NG Bailey, has been appointed as preferred bidder for the UK’s £460m Hinkley Point C power station electrical package, for EDF Energy.

The 50:50 joint venture will work across both proposed Hinkley Point C units to deliver the critical infrastructure that will power the station and its operations, creating 1,000 jobs including many specialist engineers.

Works will include the design and installation of circa 76,000 cables totalling over 3,000km in length; over 180km of cable containment support systems; fire and environmental sealing; design and installation of earthing systems, and specialist packages associated with data acquisition and plant control.

Balfour Beatty Bailey’s six year project is expected to commence in 2016 with design work and the construction phase in 2017 and full contract award anticipated for 2016, subject to the Hinkley Point C final investment decision.

Hinkley Point C, which will be located on the North Somerset coast, will be the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for 20 years. The two new nuclear reactors that form the proposed Hinkley Point C will provide reliable, low carbon electricity to meet 7% of UK demand.

Resolve Optics is a developer of specialist tracking zoom lenses for a broad spectum of applications including nuclear surveillance.

Different applications require different solutions. Nuclear applications require the zoom to be radiation resistant utilising special glass types to avoid discolouring when exposed to radiation.

Zoom tracking is important when users want the subjects always in focus even when they are zooming in or out. A tracking zoom lens does not require auto focus once tracking is set and a well-designed tracking zoom will maintain good resolution and focus throughout the zoom range. The Resolve Optics tracking zoom lens ethos is to combine all these qualities with a mechanical design optimised for a specific application without compromise. 

An ultrasound sensor for detecting dangerous cracks in structures such as aircraft engines, oil and gas pipelines and nuclear plants has been developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde– with inspiration from the natural world.

The device, known as a transducer, identifies structural defects with varying ultrasonic frequencies and overcomes the limits of other, similar devices, which are based on rigid structures and have narrow ranges. It is thought to be the first device of its kind in the world.

The transducer developed at Strathclyde has a more flexible structure, based on a natural phenomenon known in mathematics as fractals. These are irregular shapes which recur repeatedly to form objects such as snowflakes, ferns and cauliflowers, making their structure appear more complex than it often actually is. The same concept also lies behind the hearing system of animals including bats, dolphins, cockroaches and moths.

Dr Tony Mulholland, a Reader in Strathclyde’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics and co-researcher on the project, said: “Fractal shapes and soundwaves are characterised by having geometrical features on a range of length scales. However, man-made transducers tend to have a very regular geometry, similar to a chess board, and this restricts our ability to use this technology in finding cracks and flaws in structures where safety is critical.

“The reason transducers are still made this way is mostly historical; they were usually made by an engineer cutting with a saw and their design was traditionally done by manufacturing but now, with 3D printing, computer manufacturing and more laser technology, the transducer we have designed is increasingly viable.

“We know if we can send out soundwaves that are complicated and have different frequencies, we can work towards simulating what nature does. If there are defects in a nuclear plant or an oil pipeline, we would be able to detect cracks that have a range of sizes and do so at an early stage.

“This device could not only improve safety but also save a great deal of money, as early detection means inspections don’t have to be carried out as often. This is something industry is telling us it needs and we are responding to that need.”

Dr Mulholland was partnered in the study by Ebrahem Algehyne, a research student at Strathclyde’s Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering.

The research has been published in the IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics.