Bradwell pitches in to clean-up ponds complex

Magnox Ltd has announced the successful decontamination of ponds used to store used nuclear fuel at the former Bradwell nuclear power plant in Essex, England.

After four years of hard work, more than 10,000m² of walls, floors and ceilings in the site’s ponds complex have been decontaminated.

The ponds, which were used to temporarily store and cool used nuclear fuel before it was sent to Sellafield for reprocessing, were successfully drained and stabilised in 2012. Since then, work has continued to remove redundant equipment and decontaminate the rest of the associated buildings and infrastructure.

Trevor Frost, Ponds Project Manager, said: “This has been a major achievement in preparing the site for eventual closure. During the project more than 2.5km of pipework was deplanted and more than 120 tonnes of metal waste was recovered and appropriately disposed of.

“I am extremely proud of the team who have safely delivered this project to time and budget.”

One of the next phases of work will be to demolish the redundant ponds building and remaining ancillary buildings, followed by installation of weatherproof cladding over the remaining buildings. This latest success follows the recent decontamination of underground waste vaults and weatherproof cladding of the reactor buildings.

Scott Raish, Bradwell Closure Director, added: “The learning gained from reaching these milestones is invaluable as we move into our next phases of work on site and take another important step towards care and maintenance.”

NDA’s Pete Lutwyche, Chief Operating Officer, said: “The Magnox Ltd team has worked well to reach this milestone that reduces hazard on the Bradwell Site. This achievement is another excellent example of a project delivering on time and to budget. We will be working with the team to ensure that the lessons learned from tackling this challenge are shared across our wider estate.”

Img: Decontamination of Bradwell’s ponds took four years (Image: Magnox)