High-tech route for silo waste
We know that removing nuclear waste from our Pile Fuel Cladding Silo is one of our biggest challenges at Sellafield.
The high-tech Direct Import Facility
To do it we’ll fill tens of thousands of specially created boxes. And move them to specially built stores through our multi-million pound Box Encapsulation Plant Product Store Direct Import Facility (BEPPS-DIF).
We now know the process for moving the boxes works – because we’ve tested it.
Work on building the infrastructure to deliver our mission has continued through COVID-19 and a harsh winter. BEPPS-DIF will be integral to dealing with the waste brought from our legacy silos.
It’s the DIF part of the operation that will bring the 3 metre cubed boxes full of waste safely and securely into our stores.
This high-tech facility is the vital bit between the waste coming out of the silo and being stored in one of our product stores.
The project has now brought a test package through the path from the DIF into the facility’s transfer cell, completing the latest round of commissioning and showing, on the video below, the route our waste will take.
The current date for real waste to start coming through the facility is summer 2022.
This week the project celebrates another milestone as we move towards that date – the handover of its first pipework system to commissioning. System 905 will provide process air supply to the air skates that will lift the crane maintenance area shield door.
Project manager Mike Robinson, Sellafield Ltd said:
Achieving this milestone will complete level 2 commissioning on the shield door, is vital for the completion of all plant performance demonstrations and will provide invaluable learning to support the handover of the remaining pipework systems.
Here’s how the facility will help us create a clean and safe environment for future generations.
The Box Encapsulation Plant Product Store and Direct Import Facility - High-tech route for waste