Skip Size Reduction Facility (SSRF)

Project

Skip size reduction

Benefits

The SSRF removes human operators as much as possible from the nuclear and conventional hazards associated with size reducing and packing intermediate level contaminated skips. Size reduction and packing of skips in this way reduces the potential storage requirements by two thirds, benefiting interim storage arrangements and creating room for further retrievals to take place. The learning gained throughout the process has been invaluable in informing future active demonstrators.

Current Status

This project has successfully processed multiple active skips and gathered vast amounts of useful learning.

Delivery Partners

Cyan Tec Systems Ltd, Integrated Decommissioning Solutions (IDS), Lasermet Ltd, Taylor Kightley Engineering Ltd

Contact Details

Lester Wilkinson

technical.innovation@sellafieldsites.com

The Sellafield site is constrained by its limited options for handling and storage of large ILW items. Therefore, size reduction of ILW contaminated items, such as legacy Magnox skips, is required to maximise the packing efficiency of the waste sent to higher activity storage facilities. These activities support the high hazard risk reduction or the removal of the skips from the first-generation Magnox storage ponds.

The SSRF active demonstrator utilises COTS industrial robot systems to automatically reduce and re-pack legacy Magnox skips. This is all done in what is known as the laser cutting module located within an existing building on the Sellafield site, utilising otherwise redundant real estate and removing the requirement to build a new facility.

The SSRF has been commissioned on the Sellafield site and includes two “six-degrees of freedom” robots for automatic laser cutting and remote handling. Active commissioning has been successfully completed and the facility is in the process of being incorporated into normal operations. A major part of the project was to collect data and learning to allow future decisions to be made on how to handle larger ILW in the future and how new technologies can play a part in this.

This project has continued to build on experience gained throughout the inactive commissioning, has forged a new way of thinking in decommissioning and how things can be done differently, proving that these technologies can be deployed successfully within a nuclear environment. The facility has now processed several skips, size reducing two and placing them into a third skip all remotely, reducing the storage requirements by two thirds.