Balfour Beatty’s joint venture with Cavendish Nuclear been awarded a contract for the third phase of a £160M silo maintenance facility at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria.
This final phase of works follows the first two phases consisting of a £5.5M preliminary design phase and £12.5M detailed design and enabling works for the new facility. The project will employ over 300 technical workers at the height of construction and is scheduled to complete in autumn 2017.
The new mechanical handling plant will support two existing waste silos with retrieving historic waste and reducing hazard. The heavily reinforced concrete structure will have a footprint of 0.5 hectares and will be 25 metres high, with robotic installations enabling the Sellafield team to operate in a safe and controlled environment.
Working in a 45:55 joint venture, Balfour Beatty and Cavendish Nuclear will deliver this integral part of Sellafield’s long term waste retrieval hazard reduction programme on behalf of Sellafield Ltd.
A team of more than 100 engineers including nuclear specialists, civil and structural engineers and architectural technicians is currently using Building Information Modelling to create a full 4D design specification that dramatically reduces the construction programme.
Balfour Beatty is involved in design, procurement, civil engineering, construction and mechanical and electrical capabilities on the project. In addition, the company will provide fully integrated commissioning, a pre-operations delivery strategy and training in operating the facility for Sellafield’s employees.
Balfour Beatty Executive Chairman, Steve Marshall said: “The UK infrastructure market includes significant opportunities for nuclear decommissioning and clean up activities. Similarly, new nuclear build and the construction of new power generation projects will bring us an opportunity to deploy our extensive experience.
“We look forward to working with Cavendish Nuclear to deliver a facility that will support Sellafield Ltd’s overall waste retrieval and hazard reduction programme.“
