Removal of the Large Decanners from the Pile Fuels Storage Pond (PFSP)

Helping Sellafield safely remove a redundant piece of machinery weighing  over 6 tonnes from the bottom of a contaminated storage pond was the challenge presented to the team at JFN’s Egremont facility. 

The decanners are large and heavy pieces of equipment which have to be removed from the PFSP bays to enable the hazard reduction work in the facility to continue. They measure 6.5m in length, and remain radiologically challenging from operations carried out in the 1960’s.

The decanners are located in areas of minimum man access and little is known about their condition. Accurate video surveys were difficult due to the accumulation of sludge and although historic design drawings exist, these had previously proved to be unreliable.

The aim of the project was to move the decanners from their current location into the withdrawal bays, where they could be accessed and size reduced sufficiently to allow export from the complex.

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