Latest news

Thursday 2nd July 2009

Encapsulated Product Store acheives major milestone

The Encapsulated Product Store 3 (EPS3) project team have achieved a major milestone, completing the first roof concrete pour more than five weeks ahead of schedule.

This is one of the two Performance Based Indicators (PBI) milestones on the project, the other being the completion of the vault crane integrated works testing due in February 2010.

The roof-pour, at the west end of the store, required concrete to be poured over both the vaults, with approximately 900 cubic metres of concrete being poured.

The work leading up to the pour involved the erection of falsework tables from the floor to the underside of the roof, which is approximately 17 meters high. It also saw the fixing of approximately 170 tonnes of steel and a number of encast items for the vault vent inlets.

This takes the total volume of concrete poured on the project to over 22,000 cubic metres since March 2008 and equates, in concrete pour terms, to around 70% completion of civil construction.

EPS3, when completed, will provide additional storage for intermediate level waste arising from reprocessing activities and potentially for ILW arising from legacy ponds & silos clean up activities.