Evaporator D modules arrive at Sellafield

15 June 2011

The first two of eleven massive modules for a large evaporator have been delivered by barge to the UK's Sellafield site.

 

The new 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 liquor and 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 two modules are unloaded from the barge at Sellafield (Image: Sellafield Ltd)

 

Installing the new facility has been desribed as the UK's largest nuclear project. The eventual 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.

 

The first two modules – consisting of structural steel, stainless steel pipework, vessels and other equipment – have now been delivered to the Sellafield site. Measuring 10 metres high, 7.5 metres wide and almost 10 metres in length, the modules were transported using wheeled modular transporters over the 1.5 kilometres from the Interserve Pioneer Point facility in Cheshire to the specialist barge Terra Marique moored at the Manchester ship canal.

 

The modules, each weighing over 100 tonnes, were then shipped some 145 kilometres to a beach adjacent to the Sellafield site. They were then offloaded from the barge and driven across a purpose-built bridge over the River Ehen, which runs parallel to the site. The modules were then transported by SPMT onto the Sellafield site and placed in a purpose-built storage area awaiting installation in the Evaporator D building later this month.

 

Bill Condon, Executive Director - Project Management for Sellafield Ltd, commented: "This is the first time in the history of the Sellafield site that barge delivery has been used to transport large equipment to the site."

 

UK construction and engineering group Costain was awarded a £297 million ($480 million) contract in July 2009 by Sellafield Ltd for the engineering, procurement, construction and inactive commissioning of Evaporator D. The contract was an extension of an original purchase order awarded in September 2006 for front end engineering design.

 

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

 

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