First concrete pour a solid sign work is back on-site
The first concrete pour on the Sellafield site since restart has successfully been completed today, on the Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant site.
Continued progress on the foundations for the new storage facility.
Around 450m3 of specialist concrete was poured to progress the foundations for the facility, which will be a vital part of the safe and secure management of our stockpile of special nuclear materials.
The plant is needed to retreat, repackage and consolidate this material in a form suitable for long term storage in modern facilities until circa 2120.
Sellafield Ltd, head of projects, Steve Harnwell said:
This is great news – the team have done some exceptional work to get to this moment; and it is really a great achievement during the uncertainty of COVID-19 to get the project back to delivery of critical path scope.
Over the last 16 weeks, the team have worked incredibly hard and collaboratively alongside our supply chain One Aim to achieve this.
The arrangements put in place to ensure a safe, work place and safe close proximity work methods with engagement with trade unions has all been key to achieving this success.
Sellafield Ltd, interim projects director Neil Crewdson added
It’s a testament to the skills and dedication shown by all our people, supply chain and trade union engagement throughout lockdown and into restart; that we have been able to continue vital work like this, safely and at pace, with the extra constraints we have in place.
This week has also seen the start of installation for the welfare cabins for the main construction workforce on the facility, work that was scheduled for March before lockdown paused it.
The installation of the cabins is the first step to providing a construction hub that will provide welfare accommodation, a canteen and kitchen and office accommodation to be in place for the main construction workforce following completion of the base slab.
This is part of increasing the welfare facility to allow the expansion of the project for the major build to start in October this year.