Finding and addressing leaks

Project

MSSS leak management project

Benefits

Enhanced leak detection and management will minimise ground contamination and offer cost savings by reducing the resources needed to address issues post-occurrence.

Current Status

All three projects have completed proof-of-concept. Further testing is required in the leak sealant project to better recreate conditions in MSSS and optimise the solution.

Delivery Partners

Laser Optical Engineering Ltd, Steer Energy, University of Birmingham

Contact Details

Helen Wild, John Heneghan

innovation.team@sellafieldsites.com

Project overview

The Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) building is known to have several leaks present. It is important that the leaks are detected and dealt with to avoid further contamination and aid in recovery operations. Three of the several projects initiated to tackle these challenges are described below.

Detect groundwater anomalies

This laboratory and modelling demonstration featured both distributed sensing and active-distributed temperature sensing technology to detect groundwater plume thermal anomalies and flows via blind tube deployment. This work supports the autonomous detection of leaks within MSSS and was carried out in collaboration with the University of Birmingham. The project included data collection from blind tubes on site, and the outcome was a fully functional experimental test-rig, simulating heat transport in sandy porous media around two different types of blind tubes.

Crack monitoring in concrete

This laboratory demonstration used laser interferometry, an effective tool for assessing the integrity and safety of composite structures because of its high accuracy, non-destructive nature, and ability to provide detailed information about surface deformations.

It is based on the principle of interference of light waves, where a coherent light source is used to illuminate the surface of the object being tested. The reflected light from the object interferes with the incident light, producing a series of bright and dark fringes that correspond to the surface deformation of the object.

Sealant particles to stop leaks

Leak Armour explored the use of sealant particles to stop or slow down known leaks. A laboratory demonstration to block leak paths was carried out using MAGNOX sludge simulant with a viscosity modifier. The gel sealant was demonstrated to significantly reduce the flow in the test rig, with a further set of tests required to refine the process of creating leak paths in the sludge substrate to better replicate the conditions found in MSSS. Optimising the gel sealant can be undertaken in parallel with the leak path work in the future.