Halcrow is currently providing engineering services associated with undertaking engineering substantiation (ES) studies on civil and M&E services infrastructure on active facilities within the UKAEA site at Harwell. ES provides supporting documentation to the various safety cases under which the facilities operate.

The ES team comprises a team of eight staff, ranging from expert to supervised practitioner. The role of this team is to demonstrate that the structures, systems and components (SSCs) within each facility reliably deliver their required safety functions, both under normal operations and under challenge or fault conditions.

A report is produced for each facility in which the SSCs are assessed against the claims in the safety case, current standards and best engineering practice. The report includes prioritised recommendations to enable the facilities management to identify works required to maintain and improve the safety functionality of the systems and to allocate resources effectively. The methodology used complies with the requirements of UKAEA/SAH/G3, “Engineering Substantiation”.

Mechanical systems covered include steam and condensate, compressed air, hot and cold water, distributed compressed gases, hydraulic systems, standby power generation units and miscellaneous mechanical systems. Electrical systems covered include medium and low voltage electrical distribution (including cabling and switchgear), uninterruptible power supplies, standby generation, motors and drives, and miscellaneous electrical systems.

Halcrow staff have worked within a multi-disciplinary, multi-consultancy team, liaising with other disciplines, UKAEA management and facility management to ensure that all issues are covered in sufficient detail, without repetition or over-complexity.