Trawsfynydd decommissioning underway with Doosan Keltbray 23 December 2013

Nuclear decommissioning work at Magnox's Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in North Wales has started, under the direction of the Doosan Keltbray consortium.

The contract, estimated at £28 million, is part of delivering the site into its 'care and maintenance' by December 2016, and was secured partly as a result of the consortium's track record at similar facilities, such as Bradwell power station, in Essex.

The Trawsfynydd contract includes de-planting and demolition of the site's former cooling ponds complex, which stored and cooled used nuclear fuel elements following removal from the reactors.

Doosan Keltbray will also be dismantling and removing pipework, tanks and cooling equipment – some of which has become radioactively contaminated during the station's life and early phases of decommissioning.

Following completion of this phase of the project, the plant will be left in a 'passively safe state' while the natural process of radioactive decay takes place – reducing levels of radioactivity until the site can be cleared by conventional demolition.

Trawsfynydd will be one of the UK's first two nuclear sites, alongside Bradwell in Essex, to enter into 'care and maintenance'.

"Decommissioning the ponds complex is one of the major projects on the site and its completion will signify a major milestone in our journey to care and maintenance," comments Peter Burns, Magnox site director at Trawsfynydd.

"This project will provide employment for up to 100 nuclear-trained and certified operatives, and draws on the experience of previous decommissioning projects completed by Doosan Babcock and Keltbray across the Magnox fleet," adds Doosan Babcock's nuclear service director Cameron Gilmour.

And he adds that the consortium will build on its experience with similar facilities, including de-planting the boiler houses at Bradwell Power Station, recently completed a month ahead of schedule after two-and–a-half-years, during which 250,000 man hours were completed without a lost time accident.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Doosan Babcock
Keltbray Ltd

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