Evaporator D contract for Costain

08 July 2009

British construction and engineering group Costain has been awarded a £297 million ($480 million) contract by Sellafield Ltd for the engineering, procurement and construction of a large evaporator.

 

Cut-away of Sellafield's Evaporator D (Image: Costain)

The contract - for full engineering, procurement, construction and inactive commissioning of the Evaporator D project - is an extension of an original purchase order awarded in September 2006 for front end engineering design.

 

Costain said that it has developed and defined the design of the facilities that will be used to expand Sellafield's ability to process nuclear waste material and ultimately reduce inventories at the site.

 

When operational, Evaporator D will be used to dry out highly-active raffinate produced during reprocessing and to process effluent from the Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP). Once concentrated through evaporation, the raffinate is called highly-active liquor (HAL). This is stored in the Highly Active Liquor Encapsulation and Storage facility prior to feeding to the WVP for Vitrification, which immobilises the waste for long-term storage and eventual disposal.

 

The housed evaporator building will consist of 15 in-cell modules, the largest of which will be 27 metres high. It will have over 21 kilometres of pipework, bound together by over 10,000 welds. Some 300 tonnes of specialist steel will be used to make the key equipment. The Evaporator D project will consist of almost 400 major plant items. The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

 

Costain said that it will used off-site and modular construction. The modules will be transported by sea and then moved by rail onto the Sellafield site.

 

New-build ambitions

 

Andrew Wyllie, CEO of Costain, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded this contract with Sellafield Ltd which, as one of the largest nuclear projects in the UK, underpins the suitability of Costain to support the government and utilities engaged in the new nuclear build program."

 

Paul Campbell, director of Costain's nuclear division, recently said that the company's track record on decommissioning-related work such as the Evaporator D project will be a big advantage when it comes to winning new build contracts. He said, "It secured our place within a very strong and experienced joint venture team, working with Hochtief, Sir Robert McAlpine and Heitkamp to pursue the construction opportunities, estimated in the order of £20 billion ($32 billion) for the first wave of new nuclear power stations up to 2025."

 

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