Dounreay D1209

Halcrow provides a comprehensive range of support services to assist and enable our clients in the nuclear industry to effectively plan and deliver the most diverse site requirements. Halcrow provides a bespoke service, from specific radiological / safety case advice to scheme / programme economics. These services are backed by the comprehensive expert skill set expected of a major consultant.

Intermediate and Low level Waste processing facilities are substantially part of the nuclear plant decommissioning phase and, as such, are temporary. With the added environmental pressures to minimise waste volumes and preserve the environment it is becoming more important for these temporary waste facilities to demonstrate waste packing efficiencies for the whole life project and not simply for the radioactive waste packing process. Halcrow provides the whole life review including the review of processing options, optimisation of the waste handling process and packing. Bringing experienced nuclear technologists with open-minded engineers and scientists to provide the optimum and flexible solutions.

We focus on providing a robust yet innovative service, adding value by our lateral thinking and meeting budgetary needs by delivering pragmatic services and proposals that can be provided on time and to budget. 

Halcrow can provide specialist services to provide a comprehensive service to the nuclear radwaste industry.

Services
	Nuclear process engineering		Decontamination and decommissioning
	Radiological safety and documentation		Waste encapsulation
	Front end engineering		Nuclear ventilation and HVAC

Projects
	Hinkley - Wet ILW process facility		Dounreay - Grout production facility
	Harwell - Waste Encapsulation plants		Dounreay Fast Reactor Primary Circuit Decommissioning
	Dounreay - D1209 ventilation replacement		Various - LLW solid waste processing and packing facilities

Case Study

Intermediate and Low Level waste Processing Facilities

The typical ILW and LLW wet processing facilities require processes to recover, store, assess, transfer, process, package and assay the wastes in a way to ensure safety and minimisation of costs. In the review and design of various facilities Halcrow consultants and engineers have completed the following tasks. Assessment of the waste processing options, presentation of comparative studies, identification of the process needs and preferred options based on safety, cost and technical feasibility. The key aspects of the process choices are the type and state of the waste materials, the background knowledge, the final waste form specification and the volumes for disposal. The design and specification of the process plant also takes account of the final decontamination and decommissioning aspects of the process plant.

Halcrow engineers and scientists can provide the full engineering design service from development and optioneering of the concept through to the detail schemes for procurement. Including:

Nuclear Engineering - Providing radwaste process knowledge and optimising the process to suit the waste materials. Identifying options for improvement of waste packing efficiency and identifying the whole life costs. Clear identification of the feed and throughput opportunities and flexibility to handle the variety of wastes. Optimisation of the waste packing to meet the regulatory and long term storage requirements.

Radiological safety - Safety assurance services including; Hazard Identification (HAZOP), hazard assessment, radiological HAZAN production, industrial risk assessments, human factors assessment, violation assessments, specifying radiological protection, shielding assessments, dose management, modern standards safety cases, preliminary safety reports, options studies, criticality assessments, design basis analysis.

Front end engineering - Front end engineering skills, where Halcrow can help to influence project outcomes for relatively little cost; including feasibility assessment, evaluation and modelling, stakeholder and risk mitigation strategies. Particularly for radwaste process options; Including the assessment of waste types and volume, the process and packing options, assessment of decontamination options to reduce waste categorisation, packing rules and ultimate waste storage volumes and lifetime costs.

Decontamination and decommissioning - Assessment and awareness of decontamination techniques and appropriate use for waste minimisation. Definition of working areas and zones for contamination control and ventilation. Survey / planning and protocols for usage / radiological history, asbestos, radiological contamination, chemical contamination, demolition drawings, estimated arisings, waste routes, excavation, radiological monitoring, contract documentation, services diversions, SAM and HAZOP.

Waste Encapsulation - In the UK, to meet UK Drigg and NIREX requirements, wet radioactive waste is encapsulated in a cementitious matrix to create packages which are suitable for long term storage and disposal. Halcrow consultants have considerable experience of encapsulation development including the development of formulations, pre-treatment of the wastes, choice of cements or other solidification matrices, design and development of the mixing and material addition processes and the process plant. This also includes the integration of some of the available transportable encapsulation and process plants available for LLW and ILW processing.

Nuclear Ventilation and HVAC - Identification of nuclear ventilation requirements, based on the type and quantity of radioactive materials, contamination and process operations in the areas. Identification of the controlled areas and access, egress requirements. Specification of the ventilation design including fans, HEPA filters, ducting, stack monitoring and stack specification.

Skills
	Radiological dose management		Regulatory interfaces
	Radiation shielding specification		MEICA / M&E services
	Nuclear process plant		Nuclear ventilation
	Mechanical and remote handling		HVAC
	Waste packing and transport		Materials technology