UKAEA Today Oct 07 - Research Sites Restoration Ltd

For and about the
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
COMPASS starts
journey on a high
COMPASS – one of the key fusion experiments at
UKAEA’s Culham Science Centre in the 1990s – started
its epic journey east on a high. On 17 September,
COMPASS was successfully lifted from one of the main
experimental halls by a 500-tonne crane.
By mid-October, it will have completed its journey to
the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague. At the
Institute, it will be reincarnated as a new experiment,
the centrepiece of the expanding Czech fusion research
programme.
UKAEA Project Manager Andy Cullen said, “At
Culham, we are working with partners from around the
world to bring fusion energy to fruition. This project is
a good example of such partnerships. COMPASS will
offer a valuable training tool for young Czech scientists
and engineers as they look to build up their contribution
to international fusion research.”
The lift was a spectacular sight. The 20-tonne
machine was hoisted through the roof of the hall, 30
metres in the air, before being prepared for its 700-mile
trek by road and sea to Prague.
COMPASS was an integral part of fusion research at
Culham in Oxfordshire and performed many important
experiments in support of the design of the international
ITER experiment now being built in France.
As part of a strongly co-ordinated European research
programme, scientists at Culham are delighted to see
new life breathed into COMPASS in the Czech
Republic.
Building
complete : 9
Shutting down and cleaning up the fast reactor experiment at
Dounreay forms a large part of the economy in the north Highlands.
It is worth an estimated £80 million a year to Caithness and north
Sutherland and accounts for one in every five jobs locally.
But shutting down the site means that almost all these 2,000 or
so jobs will have disappeared by the time the clean-up is finished
in 2032. The workforce is expected to reduce by a quarter within
a few years and most jobs are expected to have gone in little more
than a decade from now.
A new programme launched in September aims to help workers
decide what they want to do when their existing skills are no
longer required and give them the resources they need to do it.
Plan-It is a voluntary initiative based on a pioneering self-help
scheme developed by Liverpool University and funded by local
development agency HIE Caithness and Sutherland. Trade unions
have backed the scheme and its learning reps are playing a key
Continued on page 2
role in the delivery.
Dounreay
Our nuclear
heritage : 4
Ten new
faces : 6
Energy Minister launches career plan
Culham
Issue : 93
October
2007
Harwell
Windscale
Testing
event : 12
Plus all the news
from your site…
Winfrith
2
UKAEATODAY October 2007
Cadarache visit n Bonus news n Shadow working n Shared services
Energy Minister
launches career
Continued from page 1
plan
Seeing ITER
Through a series of thought-provoking
sessions, Plan-It aims to get workers thinking
about where they want to be in 3-5 years’
time and to begin planning for that now.
They will be helped to set personal goals,
such as retraining for a different job, selfemployment or retirement, with financial
support and practical advice available to
make it happen.
The first 64 places on the initiative have
been snapped up and there is now a waiting
list for the next batch of sessions.
Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks met
some of the first group when he visited
Dounreay before attending a conference in
Thurso about economic regeneration.
“We all want to see this site decommissioned in a way that takes account of the
social and economic consequences of
closure,” he said. “That is why I warmly
welcome this initiative by UKAEA, on
behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority, to help workers plan now for the
day when their current job comes to an end.”
Dounreay Director Simon Middlemas
said, “We have a duty to close down this site
in a way that gives our workforce and local
community hope and optimism about their
prospects beyond decommissioning. We can
do this by working in partnership with the
trade unions, Highlands and Islands
Enterprise and others, and I am delighted by
the response so far from the workforce to this
new initiative.”
Restructuring –
first regulatory
agreement
A major milestone on the route to restructuring
was achieved in September, when the NII signed
the agreement for Windscale to start implementing its reorganisation, enabling Windscale’s
integration into Sellafield. It will also allow the
start of shadow working in October.
“As the first agreement received by UKAEA
for site restructuring, this is a key advance in our
programme for relicensing” said Norman
Harrison. “It represents the culmination of an
immense amount of effort by staff and means we
can now start putting plans into practice.”
Peter Mann, Head of the Windscale site, added
his thanks. “A lot of hard work has been done by
a lot of people, hand in hand with our Sellafield
colleagues, to reach this position and I am
delighted by this news.”
The agreement followed the submission of the
necessary documentation to explain and justify
the proposed reorganisation - arrangements are
being made for relevant documents to be available for view on the Intranet.
Meanwhile, in September NII inspectors were
at Dounreay to check their readiness for reorganisation, and it is expected that agreement for their
changes will not be far behind. The necessary
submissions for Harwell/Winfrith’s reorganisation have also been made to regulators and
discussions are in hand on the logistics of their
implementation.
UKAEA Chairman Barbara Thomas
Judge spent a day at CEA Cadarache
in August. As well as visiting the
CEDRA radioactive waste treatment
and storage facility and a laboratory for
the manufacture of U2 fuel in the
fission sector of the site, she also
toured the French fusion experiment
Tore Supra and ended her visit at the
ITER offices, where Nominee Principal
Deputy Director General Norbert
Holtkamp gave a presentation on the
current status of the project.
Busy time for
‘blue hats’
The ‘blue hat’ review teams from Dounreay,
Harwell and Winfrith were busy in
September, working alongside staff from
Sellafield and Magnox sites, assessing
possible options to go forward for shared
service arrangements. This is part of
previously reported plans for greater sharing
of support services between all Site Licence
Companies and the NDA.
Evaluation
‘Blue hats’ are site representatives who
undertake an initial evaluation of the
potential of different services to be shared.
They considered about a hundred such
areas, including some like nuclear materials
accounting where UKAEA could play a
leading role, and identified some 20 which
they thought merited further consideration.
If agreed by the Shared Service Steering
Group, the suitability of these services for
sharing will next be considered by teams of
‘gold hats’ (experts in the relevant field from
the sites) before being put through their final
mill by ‘black hats’, whose role is to
challenge and test the shortlist.
Only after completing this increasingly
intensive scrutiny will action be taken on the
selected areas under the shared services
arrangements.
Changes to
company bonus
arrangements
UKAEA has announced some changes to the company bonus
arrangements for this year.
To take into account the restructuring of the company, the
split between corporate and divisional measures has been
reversed, so it will now be 5% divisional and 2% corporate.
The corporate measures have been reviewed. Though the
overall formula remains similar to previous years, the new
arrangements will be: 1.6% measured on NDA performance
(fee) and 0.4% on Fusion performance. These will be multiplied by the combination of the safety performance measure
and environmental performance measure to give the 2% total.
The media performance measure has been dropped.
Safety
As in previous years, the bonus would be reduced to zero if
there were to be a fundamental failure of safety, such as an
incident at INES (International Nuclear Events Scale) Level 3
or in the event of a fatality to a UKAEA or contractor’s
employee resulting from culpable failure on the part of
UKAEA.
Details of the measures and targets for the divisional bonus
schemes for 2007/08 are still being finalised. However, for
employees in site teams, at least half of the divisional bonus of
up to 5% of salary will be based on delivery of the site
programme.
October 2007 UKAEATODAY
3
Restructuring n Changes at the top n Archive visit
CEO’s view of
progress
UKAEA
CEO
Norman
Harrison’s diary may be full to
bursting but he still believes it’s
important to stop and take stock.
He also believes it’s important
that UKAEA employees know
how things stand so he shared
his thoughts on the latest
position with UKAEA Today.
The Excellence in Safety
programme is already achieving
a great deal, as Norman noted in
his recent message to staff, with
encouraging improvements in a
number of areas. As ever,
though, we must always be
looking for further progress to
our goal of zero accidents.
Relicensing
SLC progress towards relicensing is good. Norman had just
heard that the NII had signed the
agreement for Windscale to start
implementing shadow working
arrangements and the equivalent
Dounreay agreement would not
be far behind.
“This is what we have been
working for and it is great to see
it starting to happen. I know it is
disappointing that funding issues
have affected progress on the
Harwell/Winfrith relicensing,
but it is to everyone’s credit that
planning is advancing well.”
UKAEA Ltd, the commercial
arm, is also looking forward and
the steady stream of new contracts
will be given more publicity. “We
Plans are also progressing for
the relocation of HQ staff out of
B521 at Harwell. Although
potential new office accommodation has been identified, the
lease has not yet been signed.
Norman Harrison
are keen to grow our business
both here and overseas, which
will also attract media attention –
even if it isn’t always accurate!
For commercial reasons, we
won’t always be able to comment
on such coverage – this may
particularly affect us during the
Dounreay competition – but we
will want to tell staff about new
business wins as soon as we can.”
Workshops on the new way of
working are being arranged over
the next few weeks for all
employees destined for UKAEA
Ltd. “After that, there will be the
chance of one-to-one interviews
for people to discuss their
UKAEA Ltd terms and conditions,” said Norman, “although
please bear with us, as it will take
some time to get to everyone.”
A million
pictures and
counting…
In excess of a million images and miles of moving footage with
more arriving every day, that’s the score so far at Harwell’s
photographic archive. Terry Selby, Strategy Director of NDA, and
his colleagues Simon Tucker and Pip Hatt came to see for
themselves in August.
Records
Terry Selby, who is responsible for a range of NDA activities,
including strategy, socio-economic plans and stakeholder
relations, visited the written and photographic archives in
Building 404, in connection with another facet of his role –
records.
“It was fascinating,” he commented. “These records are
essential to our decommissioning task but they are also our
heritage and, as we develop our plans for a national nuclear
archive, it was heartening to see such a well organised and
managed operation.”
Joint Venture
Some other areas, in the future
NDPB, may not be directly
involved in these changes but
are advancing in line with their
own objectives. The arrangements to find a partner for the
Joint Venture to run the
Harwell campus, for instance,
are now motoring ahead. And
the fusion programme continues to play a world role, not
least in preparations for the
ITER project.
Summing up, Norman said,
“As CEO, having responsibility
for the whole of UKAEA, I’m
conscious that different areas
have different priorities. At
Harwell and Winfrith people’s
primary concern is inevitably and
quite rightly the future for them
and their jobs. At Windscale, it is
the integration with Sellafield.
But one thing is the same
throughout UKAEA; everywhere I go, I still see people
successfully getting on with
delivering the job safely, and that
is the most important thing of all.
I want to thank everyone for their
tremendous efforts during these
changing times.”
New Heads
of Site
arrangements
With the retirement of John
Wilkins as Head of Site at
Harwell at the end of
September, UKAEA has
announced a new interim
management structure.
Interim
The Research Sites
Restoration Limited (RSRL)
management structure is
scheduled to begin in
November. In the interim
period, Alan Neal will take
over as Head of Site at
Harwell and Andy Staples will
become Head of Site at
Winfrith.
Alan is currently Head of
Site at Winfrith. He is a
Chartered Physicist with an
Alan Neal
MSc in Radiological Health
and Safety and has been at
Winfrith since 1985 and
Head of Site there since
1998.
WOMAD
Andy is currently managing
all the decommissioning
works at Winfrith. He
graduated with a degree in
industrial chemistry. His
career in the nuclear industry
has been wide ranging and
most recently he managed
the WOMAD project at
Winfrith
Andy Staples
UKAEATODAY October 2007
4
Safety & Health
Towards a culture of safety
2007 has brought a new focus on safety to UKAEA sites. In recent months,
initiatives have been introduced to ensure the company maintains and
improves its safety record.
Everybody
working on a
nuclear licensed
site can and
should make
practical
contributions to
safety
How does the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), as the body responsible for
enforcing health and safety regulation in Great Britain, view UKAEA’s approach
to safety at this time of challenge and change? We spoke to Derek Lacey of the
HSE’s Operations section.
Q Can you explain your role
within the HSE and your
relationship with UKAEA?
A The regulation of safety on
the UK’s nuclear licensed sites
is carried out by HSE’s Nuclear
Directorate which is divided
into six divisions. One of these
divisions regulates safety on
nuclear chemical and research
sites and I have been head of
that division since the
beginning of 2007. Regulation
of safety on the UKAEA sites is
therefore my responsibility.
Q Have you had a chance to
visit any UKAEA sites? What
are your general observations
about UKAEA safety
performance? Do you have
any specific concerns at this
time?
A In July of this year I had a
very informative visit to
Dounreay during which I
accompanied some of my
colleagues on inspections and
visited DFR, the Marshall
Laboratories, the Dounreay
Cementation Plant and the
Enriched Uranium Processing
Plant, and attended several
meetings as an observer.
During this visit I was able to
see the results of considerable
investment in decommissioning
and also that the safety initiatives
described by senior managers
are evident on plant. I am,
however, aware from our regular
internal communications that
safety performance on UKAEA
sites has been variable and I
would particularly welcome
improvements in the production
and review of safety cases.
During this period of
considerable change it is
important to maintain a focus
on nuclear and radiation safety
and to continue to seek
improvements wherever
reasonably practicable.
Q Do you see this as a critical
time for UKAEA safety? Why?
A I do think that the
introduction of a competitive
decommissioning market and
the resulting organisational
changes present UKAEA with
new safety challenges. During
this period we expect licensees
to increase their focus on
management of change and
ensure that the capability to
manage, operate and
decommission safely is
carefully guarded. This will
require that responsibilities
must remain clear for each
individual and that everyone
must remain focused on
safety.
Q At UKAEA we are taking
steps to make sure we don’t
‘take our eyes off the ball’ at
this time of change. Do you
believe UKAEA’s Excellence in
Safety initiative is the right
one? Why?
A We welcome UKAEA’s
Excellence in Safety approach
and believe it to be appropriate
during this period of change. It
is a recent innovation and my
inspectors are monitoring its
implementation. We believe
that this approach has the
potential to produce
sustainable improvements in
safety performance.
the nuclear industry has been
alert to the potential for
learning from significant events
and most recently it has
acknowledged the relevant
lessons from the Texas City
refinery explosion; for example,
the need to maintain
investment in asset integrity
and the inappropriateness of
using good conventional safety
data to imply adequate
performance in nuclear safety.
I think that the nuclear
industry has fully recognised
the link between culture and
organisational performance.
However, “getting the right
safety culture in place” is
sometimes an elusive
challenge because of the range
of measures necessary.
We are focusing on the
broader goal of “sustained
excellence in management for
safety and safety culture.” This
recognises the need for
effective leadership, the
management of competence,
effective organisational
learning, the control of
organisational change and the
measurement of a
comprehensive range of safety
attributes to inform
management decision making.
Q What do you see as the
main keys to improving
safety? Better training, a
change in company culture,
improved safety
documentation, better
management and leadership
or…?
A All the suggestions you make
can have an important part to
play in improving safety and
have been identified in your
Excellence in Safety initiative.
The main areas for
improvement will however
depend heavily on the specific
hazards and risks to be
managed on the different sites,
the characteristics of the
facilities and the recent safety
performance.
I believe that the
arrangements put in place to
satisfy the site licence
conditions should provide
valuable information to
licensees which will help them
to focus attention on specific
areas which require
improvement.
Q If you could get just one
safety message over, what
would that be?
A Everybody working on a
nuclear licensed site can and
should make practical
contributions to safety.
Safety visit
Q What lessons do you think
the nuclear industry could
learn from other industries, in
the UK and abroad? How
important is it to get the right
safety culture in place?
There has been a tendency
historically for the nuclear
industry to be a little isolated
from other high hazard
industries which face similar
safety challenges.
I do, however, believe that
During this period of considerable
change it is important to maintain a
focus on nuclear and radiation safety
and to continue to seek improvements
wherever reasonably practicable
The Joint Safety Reps Forum, including reps
from Harwell, Winfrith and Dounreay,
completed inspections at Dounreay’s PFR, the
silo and the Nuttalls/Ritchies project at the
shaft, and submitted their reports to
management.
Dounreay’s Health Safety and Feedback
Manager, Bill Stockho, welcomed the reps to
the site and joined them over lunch to discuss
improvements that had been made at
Dounreay.
Forum Chairman Peter Simpson commented
that it had been a worthwhile visit. The team
were impressed by the work being undertaken
both in PFR and at the shaft.
He was also impressed by the high
commitment to safety shown by staff at both
of these projects.
October 2007 UKAEATODAY
5
Changing with the times: UKAEA’s Safety
Document Assessment Department
Two new recruits have been
appointed to UKAEA’s Safety
Assessment Department. Frank
Phillips, who joined in August
as a peer reviewer, and Rob
Cook, who joins later in the
year, will bring the number to
11.
Eleven years ago, when it
came into being – known then
as the Peer Review Department
– it had just three members:
including Steve Peterson and
John Anderson.
“Our main role, established
in the early days, included
Category 1 and Category A
safety case peer reviews for all
UKAEA licensed sites, plus
reviews for Culham, maintenance
of
safety
case
methodologies through the
Safety Assessment Handbook,
and safety case writing and
peer review training,” said
Steve Peterson.
Its responsibilities have since
expanded to include Category 2
and Category B safety cases,
environmental documentation
and some lower category safety
cases.
“Our first project in 1996
was the peer review of the
operational safety case for
B220 at Harwell. In late 2006,
we began our 500th review
project, a Category B modification to Windscale’s B13
building,” said team leader
John Anderson.
“We’ve come a long way
since those early days. Over the
years we’ve expanded our
capabilities and have been
successful in winning nuclear
and non-nuclear work from a
diverse portfolio of customers.”
Some recent high profile
cases on which the department
worked were the upgrade of the
DFR Goliath Crane, the Pile 2
Frank Phillips
Rob Cook
Isotope Cartridge Removal
project and the Pile 1
endoscope survey project.
Courses
Another departmental responsibility, the development and
delivery of the UKAEA Safety
Case Writers’ courses and the
Peer Reviewers’ courses, has
proved popular with UKAEA
staff and contractors alike. To
date, more than 500 people
have attended the Safety Case
Writers’ courses and over 400
have attended the Peer
Reviewers’ courses. New
generic versions of the courses
have given them an even wider
application. Courses are held in
the Warrington area and can be
run on request.
Team members are also
involved in other safety activities including membership of
safety working parties, process
development teams and the
cross industry Peer Review
Forum.
Safety Document Assessment
Department team members have
a wide variety of skills, ranging
from safety management,
engineering, chemistry and
physics to radiological protection, criticality, environmental
and transport safety. They are
based at Warrington, Harwell,
Windscale and Winfrith.
“The department has continually evolved over the past 11
years and there’s no doubt that
its future will be different from
the past. We’re looking forward
very much to continuing to work
with our existing customers and
taking on new challenges,”
concluded John Anderson.
Some members of the Safety Document Assessment Department Back row: Alan Rudge, Jim Williams, Ian Munn,
Steve Peterson, John Anderson Front row: Mike Harrison, Fiona Boyer, Jackie Wilkinson, Mark Janicki
Chernobyl team visit
Front row (l to r): Volodymyr Medintsov, Andrii Bilyk, Igor Gramotkin, Volodymyr
Beznoshchenko and Volodymyr Gavrysh. Back row: Sandy McWhirter, International Marketing
Manager, Randall Bargelt, NDA Senior Site Programme Manager/Deputy Director and Simon
Middlemas, Dounreay Director
A management team from the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine spent a
week at Dounreay in September, learning how Britain is decommissioning its
fast reactor programme.
The primary interest of the delegation
was to share and compare the experience
of Chernobyl in managing the change
from reactor operations to decommissioning. This includes learning from the
steps being taken at Dounreay to retain a
suitably skilled and qualified workforce
for the duration of the decommissioning
programme and how the local economy
can be sustained beyond closure.
Dounreay and Chernobyl are both
located in relatively remote locations, so
face similar social and economic
challenges during their transition from
operation to closure.
During their five-day visit, the
delegation visited various facilities at
Dounreay being decommissioned. They
met programme managers responsible
for the £2.9 billion site clean-up plan,
held discussions with the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority and spoke
with site officials helping local development agencies plan for life after
Dounreay.
They also visited the North Highland
College, Thurso, to learn about its role in
the delivery of training and reskilling for
decommissioning workers.
Sandy McWhirter, UKAEA’s
International Marketing Director, said,
“UKAEA is internationally recognised
as a leader in managing the shift from
operations to safe decommissioning.
Visits such as this enable us to demonstrate our skills and experiences and to
gain an insight into the challenges and
opportunities that exist.”
Alan Scott, NUKEM’s
Decommissioning Project Manager at
Dounreay, said, “The feedback from
Igor Gramotkin and his team has been
very positive. They were very grateful
for the opportunity to share information
and learn from the Dounreay experience.
Although the problems of the Chernobyl
site are different to those at Dounreay,
the methods of managing those
challenges are very similar.”
6
UKAEATODAY October 2007
Dounreay
n
Apprentices n DFR n Particles
Particles
consultation
makes
progress
The final touches are being put
together for the last stage of
the public consultation for
dealing with particles in the
environment.
Following a review of
information gained from
consultation, technical studies,
test and trials, independent
expert reports, improvements
in monitoring technologies and
the knowledge gained by
offshore mapping surveys, the
project team are now in a
position to come forward with
a preferred way forward which
they believe will be
environmentally and publicly
acceptable.
Extensive
Phil Cartwright, Land
Contamination and Particles
Manager, said, “We have
carried out extensive
consultation over the past two
years, providing up-to-date
information at every stage to
ensure that everyone who took
part was provided with
independent and factual
information to allow them to
voice their views.
Dedicated
“A considerable amount of
work has been carried out by a
small dedicated team and we
are now in a position to come
forward with our preferred
clean-up strategy which will be
published very soon.
Comments on the draft Best
Practicable Environmental
Option (BPEO) study will be
invited before we finalise the
study and open discussions
with SEPA and other key
agencies to take the final
preferred option forward.”
New apprentices
begin their
training
UKAEA and JCL welcomed 10 new apprentices to the Dounreay
site in August. The youngsters were introduced to the realities of
life at Dounreay, as they went through site and safety induction
courses, health checks, and began their practical training.
UKAEA’s Apprentice Training Manager, Jim Swan, explained
the apprentices’ training schedule.
“They will spend a few days on site and will then go to the
North Highland College to study for a National Certificate in
Engineering, as the first part of their four-year training
programme. They spend three years on site doing practical
training, backed up by academic work on day release to the
College.
“By the time they qualify, the UKAEA apprentices will have
achieved a range of academic qualifications in engineering and
nuclear decommissioning skills. So they will be very busy for the
next four years!”
Vi Blumfield oversees the training of JCL’s apprentices. She
explained that JCL and UKAEA apprentices train side by side,
but each company is responsible for arranging the placement of
their own trainees for the practical training.
“It’s a measure of the quality of the training programmes that
we continue to attract large numbers of youngsters wanting to
do an apprenticeship at Dounreay”, she said. “A Dounreay
apprenticeship is widely recognised and highly thought of by
other sectors of industry.”
Good progress on DFR
breeder removal plant
The DFR breeder containment building, an imposing metal clad
structure adjacent to Dounreay’s famous sphere, never fails to
impress. Visitors can’t help but feel the sense of teamwork and
achievement as the internal construction phase of the project
rapidly progresses.
The building is being kitted out with crucial equipment to handle
and process the breeder elements from the fast reactor. Large
concrete walls have been erected, including the installation of a 20tonne shield door, to house equipment for dismantling the breeder
elements. Once the cladding is removed and the uranium slugs
exposed, work will start on preparations for washing and packaging
them into 500 litre drums ready for storage.
The installation of electrical services is progressing well. Rails
that will manoeuvre the trolley to transport waste drums containing
the breeder elements have been installed, sitting like tram lines
along the length of the building floor.
Two members of the project team have been to Toulon, France,
to undertake inactive commissioning trials and training on the
retrieval cell mock-up unit. This is the equipment that will remotely
remove the breeder elements from the reactor vessel.
The next significant step will be the cutting out of a section of the
DFR sphere, prior to the installation of a transfer tube later this
year. The tube will allow the breeder elements to be moved from the
sphere to the containment building.
Internal building works are expected to be completed this year,
with inactive commissioning due to begin in 2008.
The work on site is being undertaken for UKAEA on behalf of
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority by ALSTEC, supported
by local contractors. The breeder removal is due to start in 2009 and
will take approximately three years to complete, subject to
consents.
October 2007 UKAEATODAY
Dounreay
n
7
PFR n Beyond Dounreay
New PFR facility
to clean up reactor
The
Sodium
Inventory
Disposal (SID) facility was
officially handed over to
Prototype
Fast
Reactor
Operations on 6 September.
The facility, which recently
completed active commissioning, was designed, built, and
safely commissioned by the
Alkali Metal Residue Removal
(AMRR) alliance, comprising
UKAEA, JGC, Alstec and
Jacobs. This symbolises a major
step forward, as it provides
UKAEA with the capacity to
start cleaning sodium and NaK
contaminated
components
stored at the PFR plant.
The pioneering facility,
constructed within the Sodium
Tank Farm, uses the Water
Vapour Nitrogen (WVN)
process developed at the
Janetstown Off-Site Test facil-
ity to remove tritiated alkali
metal residues from plant and
vessels made redundant by
decommissioning work on the
Dounreay site.
The alkali metal stores at PFR
are currently reaching capacity,
meaning that future decommissioning work was threatened
with delay. The SID facility is
scheduled to start processing
this backlog of historic waste,
freeing up space to allow future
decommissioning to commence.
The first job for the facility,
which is to be operated by
Nukem, will be to process
sodium contaminated metal
pipe components, known as
complex geometry.
Sodium inside the pipes is
melted out inside the SID2
vessel, exposing all surfaces
and sodium to the WVN
mixture. The waste output is in
the form of clean metal and a
neutral saline solution.
Following successful operations, there are future plans to
adapt the facility to allow cleaning of the four remaining
sodium tanks within the PFR
plant in preparation for dismantling to begin.
Beyond Dounreay: Caithness Conference
Energy Minister, Malcolm
Wicks and Minister of State
for the Scotland Office, David
Cairns, visited Caithness on
the 14 September to attend the
Caithness Conference entitled
‘Beyond Dounreay’.
Organised by the Dounreay
Stakeholder Group and
Caithness Partnership, over
130 delegates attended the
event, designed to allow stakeholders to input into the draft
action plan for delivering a
new economic future for the
area.
Impressed
Following the workshop
session, Malcolm Wicks
commented, “I’ve been
enormously impressed by the
conference and have been very
struck by just how many key
players in this area have come
along. The community are
approaching this big challenge
with confidence and I sense a
can-do attitude which can only
lead to a successful future.”
Dounreay’s Donna Stewart
and June Love, representing
Dounreay Stakeholder Group,
were part of the organising
committee, along with Anna
MacConnell of Caithness
Partnership and UKAEA, in
support of the NDA, provided
a third of the funding.
Useful
Dounreay Director Simon
Middlemas also played a
prominent role, chairing one of
the workshops. Following the
conference, Simon said, “This
was a very useful day. While
we recognise that regeneration
of the area is not our responsibility, we do have a supporting
role to play.
“By 2032 we want to have
about 2,000 jobs in the supply
chain, the local firms and
almost none at UKAEA. I feel
passionately about this
because I am part of this
community. I live here, I work
here and I want to retire here.
“Dounreay has been at the
heart of the local economy for
a long time and we owe it to
the community to help plan for
a life after Dounreay.”
Members of Dounreay Union attend the conference
8
UKAEATODAY October 2007
Culham
n
Fusion film n Golden Spanner
green.tv
Apprentice of the Year
Kate Winstanley, a first year
apprentice at Culham, has been
named Apprentice of Year by
Abingdon and Witney College,
Oxfordshire. Kate was presented
with The Golden Spanner Award
as the most promising
engineering apprentice attending
the college.
Talent
Internet TV channel green.tv paid a visit to Culham in August
to make a short film on the potential of fusion to provide clean
energy in the future.
green.tv is dedicated to environmental issues and
particularly focuses on climate change. It is the latest in a
succession of media outlets to cover the research at Culham
as the energy debate hots up and word spreads about fusion’s
advantages.
Culham scientists Duarte Borba and Melanie Windridge
were interviewed for the film, ‘A future in fusion’, which can be
viewed at www.green.tv.
Winfrith
n
“Kate has demonstrated
natural talent, hard work and
application to win this award,”
said David Martin, Manager of
the Apprentice Scheme. “All
the team involved in starting
and running the Culham
apprentice scheme should
share in the sense of pride at
Kate’s achievement, which is
also a credit to their
contributions to the scheme.”
The Culham apprentice
scheme, which aims to
maintain the engineering skills
base for technicians on site, restarted in 2005.
Kate is presented with her golden spanner by lecturers from Abingdon and
Witney College.
Further details can be obtained from Anna Barns or at
www.fusion.org.uk/apprentice/home.htm
History recalled n BTCV
Wool School revisited
Six months after UKAEA staff
helped build a wildlife garden
at Wool Church of England
Primary School, UKAEA
Winfrith Communications
Manager Emma Burwood was
invited back – Groundforce
style – to see how the garden
was faring.
Staff had teamed up with the
British Trust for Conversation
Volunteers (BTCV) to clear the
garden and create vegetable
beds and pathways for the
children.
“It was lovely to see the
children had grown their own
vegetables and flowers in the
raised beds we’d built,” said
Emma. “And the school had
raised funds to buy a sundial
and have a summerhouse built.
It all looked very impressive.”
Fifty years of
Winfrith history
remembered
A brochure showing the history of the Winfrith site from 1957
to the present day has been published.
The publication charts the Winfrith story from the
beginning of construction in September 1957 through the
golden years, when a range of research and experimental
reactors – from Zenith, Zebra and Dragon to SGHWR – were
operational, right up to 2007 and the accelerated
decommissioning programme.
Memories
The Apprentice Training
School, the delicensing of
the first section of land on
the site, and the creation
of the Winfrith Technology
Centre are all
remembered, in words and
in pictures. There are
memories too of some
famous visitors to the site,
including the Queen and
the then Secretary of State
for Energy, Cecil
Parkinson.
If you would like a copy
of ‘UKAEA-Winfrith at
Fifty’ please contact
Emma Burwood on 01305
203107 or e-mail emma.
[email protected]
October 2007 UKAEATODAY
Harwell
n
9
Donation n On location n BPEO
WEP moves into
the next phase
Construction of Harwell’s Waste Encapsulation Plant (WEP) is nearing completion.
The plant, which will enable UKAEA to process Intermediate Level Waste (ILW)
from the B462 storage facilities, is scheduled to be fully operational by mid 2009.
As the construction phase nears completion, the project is moving into its next
phase, mechanical and electrical installation. “On-site electrical installation works
have already commenced, with mechanical installation of the process plant soon to
follow,” says Senior Project Manager, Jim Cornish.
Off site, works testing is now complete for the last of the mechanical packages.
Off-site testing has given the project team the chance to directly involve the operators, who will eventually run the plant, using their operational skills, assistance and
experience to help advise on plant operability, as well as providing early training.
“The successful completion of works testing of all of the mechanical and electrical
plant is testament to the value of UKAEA’s input at all stages of scheme design,
detailed design, and manufacture.
“With the changing environment and numerous diverse installation trades, safety
continues to be at the forefront of the project planning, and the contract safety
management strategy continues to evolve with continuous improvement being the site
goal,” Jim added.
Computer help for
pre-school
UKAEA Harwell has donated a computer that is no longer needed on site to a local
pre-school.
Marcham pre-school playgroup opened in 1969 and is a committee-run group
situated next to the primary school in Marcham village. The pre-school provides
young children with an education before they move onto the primary school.
“With the help of the PC donated from UKAEA Harwell, on behalf of the NDA, the
children can continue to improve their IT skills in an informal and friendly
environment,” said Louisa Williams of Harwell Communications.
Pullman film
at Harwell
Harwell BPEO update
UKAEA has been carrying out a Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO)
study for the management of wastes arising from the Harwell decommissioning
and clean-up programme. .
A First Stakeholder Consultation Document was issued in early 2007 to a wide
range of stakeholders, including the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, safety
and environmental regulators, the Local Stakeholder Group, local communities,
employees, members of the public and other interested parties. This sought views
on options for waste management and the process for assessing options. A total
of 22 responses were received.
Since then, UKAEA, with the help of independent consultants, has assessed
options for over 30 waste streams, a marathon task involving a range of experts
from inside and outside UKAEA, including British Energy, British Nuclear
Group, NDA Radioactive Waste Management Division and GE Healthcare.
A Second Stakeholder Consultation Document is being issued in autumn 2007.
This sets out the preliminary results of the assessment and shows how the views
of stakeholders affect the results. It also includes stakeholder comments and
UKAEA’s responses to the comments made during the first consultation. There
will be a 12 week period of consultation.
As part of UKAEA’s commitment to listening to stakeholders, a stakeholder
workshop will be held, expected to be in late November, at which stakeholders
and other members of the public will be able to express their views and find out
more about the study.
For more information please visit:
www.ukaea.org.uk/sites/public_consultations.htm
Several scenes from the film The Butterfly
Tattoo, based on a contemporary novel by
acclaimed Oxford author Philip Pullman, were
shot in the southern part of the Harwell
Science and Innovation Campus during
September.
The film, which tells the tragic story of Chris who meets Jenny, the love of his
life at an Oxford college summer ball, is being made by the Dutch production
company Dynamic Entertainment DEH.
The Butterfly Tattoo was filmed on location in and around Oxford over a period
of six weeks, with a predominantly young crew and cast. To find out more please
visit: www.tbtproject.com
The movie crew on location near Harwell
10
Windscale
UKAEATODAY October 2007
n
Remembering 1957 n CEA secondment n Asbestos compaction
Fifty Years On
10 October 2007 marks the
50th anniversary of the
Windscale fire. The Windscale
Piles operated from 1950 to
1957, when a fire caused severe
damage to the core of Pile 1.
In 1945, the British
Government made the decision
to build its own nuclear
reactors. By 1946, a research
establishment had been set up
at Harwell and by 1947,
construction of the Windscale
Pile Reactors had begun.
Pile 1 began operating in
October 1950 with Pile 2 in
June 1951. The Pile Reactors
are massive structures which
today can still be seen against
the backdrop of the wider
Sellafield site.
During reactor operations,
scientists noticed high abnormal temperatures, caused by
so-called Wigner energy. To
deal with the problem, a
process known as annealing
was used. By heating the
graphite core above normal
operating temperatures, the
energy was released. Each
anneal gave about 10 months of
safe operations.
As the eighth anneal of Pile 1
was incomplete and the first
nuclear heating had released
very little Wigner energy, a
second heating was applied.
This released energy so quickly
that overheating could not be
prevented and the reactor
caught fire. Water was applied
and this, combined with air
starvation, cooled the core and
extinguished the fire. Both Pile
Reactors were closed and all
operations ceased.
Clean-up activities started
immediately. An accident
inquiry was set up under
the chairmanship of Sir
William Penney. The Inquiry
concluded that the second
nuclear heating of Pile 1 had
caused the accident. It criticised
instrumentation deficiencies,
organisational weakness and
lack of operating manuals. The
Fleck Committee was charged
with undertaking a technical
investigation of the accident.
As a result of the fire, a
plume of radioactivity escaped
from the core via the chimney
and out into the surrounding
environment. It cooled and fell
onto the ground. Affected by
the prevailing weather conditions at Windscale, the plume
was carried by the wind and
detected in areas of Europe.
UKAEA put in place a
biological monitoring programme
and started sampling milk from
local farms, vegetation, soil
grass and foodstuffs. Milk
sampling showed a rise in
Iodine 131 and a milk ban was
put in place. Initially 17 farms
were identified and an area of
80 square miles, later extended
to 200 square miles.
With Pile 1 beyond repair
and Pile 2 unlikely to restart,
the care and maintenance of the
reactor and making both plants
safe and secure became the
primary objective of the team at
Windscale.
From 1957 to 1961, work
was carried out to dismantle
redundant equipment, insert the
shutdown rods and control rods
and take out the drive mechanisms. Both chimneys were
sealed at the top, the filter
gallery removed and the inlet
ducts isolated.
Between 1981 and 1999,
significant clean-up work was
carried out. The concrete
biological shield was sealed
which allowed the installation
of ventilation and monitoring
plant. Surveys identified an
accumulation of fuel and
isotope cartridges in the water
and air ducts. These were safely
and effectively removed and
the water ducts cleaned.
Phase 1 decommissioning
was completed in June 1999,
ensuring the plant remained in
a safe condition until further
decommissioning could be
undertaken.
Decommissioning Pile 1 is
recognised as being technically
challenging. Work from the
1990s to present day has focused
on developing safe, secure and
environmentally
acceptable
approaches to decommission the
reactor. Innovative approaches
have been considered and the
manufacture and trialling of
prototype equipment has been
initiated.
Equipment will be used to
remotely remove the remaining fuel and isotopes from Pile
1. The reactor control rods and
shutdown rods will be
removed, followed by the Pile
cap and the reactor core, prior
to the removal of the biological shield. Where possible,
waste will be processed,
recycled or re-used. Where this
is not practical, arrangements
will be made for storage or
disposal.
Ultimately, the team at
Windscale intend to decommission the site to brownfield
status or to ground level.
European
Cooperation
Nicolas Sultanem, of the
French company
Commissariat à l’Énergie
Atomique (CEA) in Paris,
recently spent ten weeks
working on the Windscale
Advanced Gas-cooled
Reactor (WAGR) decommissioning project.
Nicolas has been researching into a decontamination
project, as well as successfully improving his English.
The secondment was
arranged through the close
working relationship of
Senior Project Managers,
Terry Benest of Windscale
and Michel Jean Jacques of
Fontenay-aux-Roses, the
birth place of the Nuclear
Programme in France. Terry
and Michel have been
members of the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation
and Development’s Technical
Advisory Group (OECD’s
TAG) for some time.
Nicolas said, “Spending
time with the WAGR project
team has given me more
experience within the nuclear
industry.” Nicolas added that
he has been warmly
welcomed by his colleagues
at WAGR. He also
thoroughly enjoyed getting to
know the area.
On returning to France in
September, Nicolas began
combining his practical
experience at the CEA with
part-time study at CEFIPA,
an engineering college in the
South of Paris.
Speaking about Nicolas’
placement at WAGR, Terry
Benest said, “Co-operation
between UKAEA and CEA
encourages a valuable
exchange of knowledge and
experience and it has been a
great pleasure to host Nicolas
at WAGR during his stay.”
Compacting mountains into molehills
An innovative technique is being
used in Windscale’s Advanced
Gas Cooled Reactor (WAGR)
decommissioning project to
compact asbestos waste.
UKAEA, CH2M HILL
International Nuclear Services
(CHNS) and Hertel Services
have developed and implemented the process of low force
compaction for asbestos containing Low Level Waste (LLW).
It uses a low force compactor
in a carefully designed and
ventilated containment structure
to reduce the volume of the
wastes and control the spread of
either radioactive or asbestos
contamination. Development
work carried out on site has
demonstrated that the process is
safe, practical and efficient.
Health and Safety Executive
Field Operations Division (HSE
FoD), Nuclear Installations
Inspectorate (NII) and the
Environment Agency (EA) have
followed the development work
with interest and are supportive
of the conclusions of the study.
The WAGR decommissioning
project team proposed this innovative resolution to the problem of
conditioning and disposing of
asbestos-contaminated LLW
arising from the dismantling of the
WAGR pressure vessel.
These wastes comprise
broken pieces of insulation
block and the cement-based
compound, as well as Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE) and
waste equipment arising from
removal operations. When not
associated with the steel of the
pressure vessel or other
activated steel contaminants,
such waste has low activity and
may be handled manually.
This strategy currently represents the Best Practical Means
(BPM) for disposal of asbestos
contaminated wastes currently
stored and those that will be
produced in the future through
decommissioning activities.
Nicolas with Terry Benest in WAGR
October 2007 UKAEATODAY
11
Website of the Month
Milestones
Congratulations to those
UKAEA staff celebrating
career milestones this month.
45 years and over
Jim Hayward • Culham
01/10/62
40 years and over
Kevin Erents • Culham
Ian Cook • Culham
Brian Spence • Dounreay
01/10/67
01/10/67
30/10/67
35 years and over
Dave Partridge • Harwell
Paul Coad • Culham
Eric Hollis • Harwell
George Sutherland • Dounreay
12/10/70
01/10/71
04/10/71
18/10/71
30 years and over
Ken Pagett • Culham
Michael Watkins • Culham
John Wilkins • Harwell
Tim Budd • Culham
Ian Warneford • Risley
Wilfred Bain • Dounreay
Chris Gimblett • Culham
John Shaw • Windscale
Tom Todd • Culham
Teresa Freeman • Harwell
Duncan Neilson • Culham
Alexander Potts • Dounreay
01/10/73
01/10/73
01/10/74
07/10/74
14/10/74
28/10/74
28/10/74
28/10/74
06/10/75
13/10/75
13/10/76
24/10/77
25 years
Nicol Maclean • Dounreay
Julie Savage • Harwell
Kevin Henderson • Dounreay
Jackie Costello • Culham
04/10/82
04/10/82
18/10/82
25/10/82
20 years
Neil Madge • Harwell
Richard Pratley • Harwell
William Morris • Culham
05/10/87
05/10/87
05/10/87
15 years
Ann Ross • Dounreay
26/10/92
10 years
Ian Mackay • Dounreay
01/10/97
Kevin McIntyre • Winfrith
01/10/97
Nicola Matheson • Winfrith 01/10/97
Michelle Wise • Harwell
06/10/97
Gordon Levack • Dounreay 13/10/97
Ivan Macleod • Dounreay
13/10/97
Neil McLean • Dounreay
13/10/97
John Hambleton • Dounreay 20/10/97
Bryan Dods • Dounreay
27/10/97
Please note that Milestones are
calculated on years of continuous
service.
Websites to help
you go green
Want to de-clutter a room or furnish one for free? Freecycle
could be the answer.
The worldwide network of Freecycle centres takes the idea
of recycling a step forward by introducing a new take on the
bartering principle. Freecycle groups match people who have
things they want to get rid of with people who can use them.
The aim is to reduce the volume of usable items that go into
landfill.
The first UK Freecycle group was set up in 2003. Now there
are 444, all run by locally based volunteer moderators across
England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern
Ireland.
How does it work?
Everything posted must
be free, legal and
appropriate for all ages.
If you have something
you want to offer – from
a tea-set to a drum-kit –
you send an email to
your nearest group,
which you can find via an
online locator. If you
want to get hold of
something, you post a
message detailing what
you’re looking for. The
giver then decides who
receives the item – and
no money changes
hands.
If you want to dispose
of unwanted items in a more conventional manner, try the
recycle-more website, which includes a bank locator. Visitors
to the site can search for their nearest recycling bank by
postcode and waste type.
recycle-now also offers a wealth of hints and tips about
recycling, from how to set up a recycling system in the
workplace or at school to the mechanics of the composting
process. Filling in a waste diary may bring home just how
much we throw away each day.
http://uk.freecycle.org
www.recycle-more.co.uk
Please remember that the Website of the Month feature
suggests websites you might like to access from your home
computer. If you are in doubt about which sites you are
pemitted to access in the workplace, please refer to the
UKAEA Internet policy.
The monthly newspaper for and about the
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Editor : Sue Clark
e-mail: [email protected]
Articles can be freely reproduced provided
UKAEA TODAY is acknowledged as the source
Editorial Office
Communications,
UKAEA, Marshall Building (521)
Harwell, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0RA
Tel : 01235 435008 Fax : 01235 436865
Design : Hot Cross Design (01491 839505)
Copywriting : Blue2 (01235 862587)
Correspondents
Culham
Dounreay
Harwell
Warrington
Windscale
Susan Hayward : 01235 466363
Sue Thompson : 01847 806085
Angela Vincent : 01235 435234
John Anderson : 01925 287654
Fee Wilson : 01946 772954
Claire Tandy : 01946 772213
Winfrith
Emma Burwood : 01305 203107
Business Strategy
Bim Adesanya : 01235 435066
Finance & Commercial Lynn Leniewski : 01235 436892
MPED
Annabel Halfhead : 01235 435281
S&AD
Kirsten Johnson : 01847 806387
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Win £25 with our Big Prize Crossword
Send your completed entry to: Communications, UKAEA
Crossword, B521/G30, Harwell, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0RA.
Entries for the October 2007 crossword should arrive no
later than 5th November.
Cryptic Clues
Across
1
Encircle and measure the pair (7)
5 & 2 A vast cobra wriggles on Spanish coast (5,5)
8
Soft, inflamed to a point and shrimp-like (5)
9
Hot shelter for seditious leader, set free (7)
10
Cultivating spike of corn in circle (7)
11
Turn away head in Humber (5)
12
Counter at work station (6)
14
It’s part of the fun us editors have when idle (6)
18
Dismisses passions (5)
20
Clusters of houses belonging to Shakespearian prince (7)
22
One mean, shrivelled flower (7)
23
Avoid most of the prelude (5)
24
It’s warm by the Spanish guest house (5)
25
Refuse to book after ship is caught up in decay (7)
Down
1
2
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13
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A poster crumpled in grass (7)
See 5 across
Anarchist leader releases older relatives (7)
Standard in French character (6)
He’s heard to sniff out money (5)
Shoots greens (7)
Tall tree found in Madras peninsula (5)
Tense through iron cast surroundings (7)
Old book of anaesthetics? (7)
Sets red mixture for pudding (7)
Footstep outside hard to follow path (6)
Glare at loud swipe (5)
Gadget under point of seat (5)
Give out to former student centre (5)
Quick Clues
Across
1
Cuddle (7)
5 & 2 Holiday area of Spain (5,5)
8
Crustacean (5)
9
Place to get a tan (7)
10
Rising (7)
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Scorn (5)
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Contradict (6)
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Pristine (6)
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Blazes (5)
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Villages (7)
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Spring flower (7)
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Escape (5)
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Place to stay (5)
25
Dispute (7)
Down
1
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5
6
7
13
15
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Rough grass (7)
See 5 across
Mother’s sisters (7)
Flag (6)
American money (5)
Vegetables (7)
Poplar-like tree (5)
Ideal (7)
Digits (7)
Sweet course (7)
Yarn (6)
Spark (5)
Backless chair (5)
Emit (5)
Summer winner and solution
Copy Deadlines
Issue 94 November 2007
Issue 95 December 2007
Issue 96 January/February 2008
£25 Prize Crossword
1st October 2007
5th November 2007
8th January 2008
The lucky winner is Marie Talbot who works at Culham.
Across; 1 Please, 4 Stamps, 9 Emperor, 10 Extra, 11 Egypt, 12 Extinct,
13 Bushwhacker, 18 Plateau, 20 Night, 22 Dying, 23 Element, 24 Remote, 25 Stands
Across; 1 Pieces, 2 Empty, 3 Stretch, 5 Treat, 6 Matinee, 7 Shanty, 8 Greenhouses
14 Uranium, 15 Content, 16 Spider, 17 States, 19 Eight, 21 Green
UKAEATODAY October 2007
12
Out and About
Mike tests
himself
Visit brings back
happy memories
Among the more than 5,000 cyclists lining up in
August for the start of this year’s fabled ParisBrest-Paris endurance cycling event – or PBP –
was UKAEA’s own indefatigable Mike Storey.
Mike’s friends will know that his diary of the
event is not for the faint-hearted. These are some
more conventional extracts:
“20th August, 15:07: Seven hours before the
start and the tension is horrendous. This event is
massive in France. Overall it is 760 miles over
four days. The total amount of climbing is 33,000
feet.
“21st August, 16.34: The start was a festival.
Fireworks were interesting. I could’ve done
without the bagpipes. Lots of people lined the
streets and bridges. Well-wishers even at 2.30 am.
We are now at the 200-mile mark. Please can the
sun shine!
“24th August, 08:46: Done 900K out of 1200K
but have knackered my knee. Pedalled 50 miles
using only one leg.
“24th August, 09:17: Just made last control.
Very short of time but had to stop for a sleep
twice or I’d have fallen off. Paris next stop. I’ve
got five hours to get there.”
“24th August, 14:07: Just got in. Mission
accomplished. Enjoyed it so much, ready for a
second lap.”
Retired Dounreay Head of
Safety, John Walford, recently
took the chance to visit
Dounreay’s former plutonium
criticality building for the last
time before its demolition.
John is one of two surviving
members of the project team
who supervised the first
nuclear criticality in Scotland
on 13 August 1957, which took
place in the building next door.
Dounreay built the facility,
codenamed D8550, to carry
out a major programme of
criticality experiments on
plutonium-bearing materials
for the benefit of the UK
nuclear industry as a whole.
During his visit, John was
impressed by the decommissioning work carried out by the
project team. Project Engineer
Alan Farquhar said, “Their
example shows that even the
most contaminated of build-
First run in 1891, the 1200K Paris-BrestParis Randonneurs is the oldest cycling
event still taking place on a regular
basis on the open road. It’s organised
every four years by the Audax Club
Parisien as a test of cycling agility and
endurance for tough amateurs. This
year’s PBP was held on 20-24 August.
ings can be decommissioned
safely and efficiently.”
Standing inside the vast 7m
high, 8m wide cell, now
completely empty, brought
back memories. “The last time
I was inside here was in
December 1962,” John said.
“I have enjoyed looking
round all the other parts of
D8550, especially as I
contributed to the design of the
facility and watched it grow
during its construction, as well
as being responsible for its
eventual operation. I think of
the time I spent on criticality
work as the happiest and most
gratifying period of my
working life.”
A garden to be proud of
The John Lennon garden at Durness has been given a make-over, thanks to a team
of 12 volunteers from the Dounreay site.
The late Beatle spent summer holidays in Durness, Sutherland as a child.
Dounreay’s Carol Miller, seconded on a part-time basis to the North Highland
Tourism (NHT) Operators Group, appealed for help to get the garden tidied up before
the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in September. Some of the more greenfingered people from laboratory services, human resources and JCI decided that this
would be a good opportunity for some team building and volunteered their services.
After the work was finished Carol Miller said, “It’s amazing how much we achieved
and we all worked so well together. The garden was originally created by the
Breechgrove Gardeners in 2002 and has been maintained by local volunteers.
“NHT hopes to allocate some of the proceeds from the festival to complete the
task. The work carried out by Dounreay’s volunteers means that the garden is looking
its best for the hundreds of visitors who are expected to attend the John Lennon
Northern Lights Festival in September. Thanks are due to everyone involved.”
A cheerful environment
Leigh Hodgson from the Whitehaven in Bloom Committee, Fee Wilson Windscale’s Communications Manager, Cllr Henry Wormstrup, Copeland
Councillor for Whitehaven Harbour Ward and Windscale’s Claire Tandy with
children from Monkwray School who planted the flower bed pictured behind
The Windscale Head of Site
Community Fund recently
supported the ever-popular
Whitehaven in Bloom competition, by making a donation
which allowed local schoolchildren to spend a day planting
flowers in Trinity Gardens in
Whitehaven Town Centre.
The schools event, which
has now been running for five
years, encourages children to
take pride in their local
environment. This year, 10
schools from the Whitehaven
area became involved, with
more than 150 children taking
part. They all thoroughly enjoy
the day.
From left – Project Engineer Alan Farquhar, Site Decommissioning Manager
Steve Beckitt, retired Head of Safety John Walford, and Project Manager
Charlie Fowler inside the criticality cell in D8550
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