Capenhurst site
Process one
Uranic material arrives at site in two ways, either as depleted uranium from fuel recycling at Sellafield, or as uranium hexafloride from Urenco Capenhurst Ltd's enrichment process. All new uranic material is received at the front of the storage area before being unloaded by crane and catalogued prior to storage.
Process two:
The containers of uranic material are transported within the safe and secure storage facility by fork lift, or specialist truck, depending on the type of container. It is assigned a designated space on a storage rack and remains there in a controlled and secure environment pending its further reuse.
Process one
Redundant machinery and equipment is removed from a building and categorised into material that can be recycled or disposed of. As much recycling as possible takes place because disposal has an environmental impact, incurs costs and recycled material can generate money that can fund further clean-up work.
Process two
Once the building is empty, which can take years, a lot of care is taken to check all available surfaces for contamination. Where possible contaminated surfaces are cleaned, or disposed of. Then the building is ready for demolition.
Process three
Demolition is often a very delicate task because condemned buildings are often located next to, or near, operating plants. Frequently buildings must be taken down piece by piece and when this is completed, as much rubble as possible is recycled.
The Capenhurst site is split into two parts, one owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the other by Urenco Capenhurst Ltd (UCL).
The decommissioning site, which is operated by the NDA’s contractor, Sellafield Ltd, consists of a former uranium enrichment facility, which ceased operations in 1982. Since then it has mostly been decommissioned, which means redundant plant and equipment has been removed. Many buildings on site have been demolished to create reusable space, while the rest has been upgraded to safely store uranic materials, which are a by-product of recycling used fuel at Sellafield.
Capenhurst Site Achievements
10,000 Hex Tail cylinders refurbished and put into dry storage
Over 1,000 aluminium ingots disposed at LLWR
130,000m2 of building footprint safely demolished
4800 stage units recycled back into the metals market
10,000 Hex Tail cylinders refurbished and put into dry storage
Over 1,000 aluminium ingots disposed at LLWR
130,000m2 of building footprint safely demolished
1.5millions hrs decommissioning without LTA
Over 15km of copper cable stripped for recycling
4800 stage units recycled back into the metals market
