nuclear-news

Brave new nuclear technology has left massive new waste problem

Nuclear Legacy, The Construction Index, 23 Nov 12 Hazardous, time consuming and expensive: nuclear decommissioning projects pose some of the greatest technical challenges, and opportunities, for contractors. Emma Crates reports.

“….. the toxic legacy of life-expired power stations requires immediate action.The UK was an early pioneer of this brave new technology, opening the world’s first commercial nuclear power station at Calder Hall in Cumbria in1956. At the time, little thought was given to what would happen after the facilities passed their useful working life.

Six decades on, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the public body responsible for cleaning and decommissioning civil nuclear sites, presides over a complicated legacy. Its portfolio of 19 sites stretches from Dounreay in Scotland to Winfrith in Dorset. Collectively the sites contain hundreds of structures contaminated with radioactive material, each posing a unique set of challenges.
Working in the nuclear sector is not for the faint-hearted: it can take years of planning, preparation and testing before a single structure can be safely defueled, decommissioned and dismantled. The process is hazardous, costly and time consuming. Bespoke solutions are often required…..

At Sellafield, many of the most significant clean-up challenges are
with the legacy ponds and silos that were used to prepare fuel for
processing and to store waste. After more than five decades these
facilities are weather-worn and deteriorating. Their safe defueling
and dismantling has become an urgent priority. One of the most complex
operations under preparation is the decommissioning….

The problem of working in areas that are too hazardous for humans to
enter has long posed  challenges for nuclear decommissioning projects…. http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/nuclear-legacy

November 23, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, wastes