Issue 08 January 2018
Safety, delivery and value 2017 review
Transforming Sellafield Employees take on new roles
Safe Maximising our social storage impact
Find out more The new frontier for on page 52 nuclear manufacturing?
Calder Hall Beyond Sellafield Evaporator D From cooling towers to Forth Engineering sets its sights From drawing board to construction site on new markets national asset As you may already know, Sellafield Ltd offers some of the If you know hard-working, ambitious people who could truly very best apprenticeships available. We now need your help make their mark here, send them to careers.sellafield.co.uk telling people about them. where they’ll learn about all the benefits and rewards. We think it will be the smartest move they’ll ever make. We’ve got a huge range of schemes, offering apprentices the chance to build a great career, learn from recognised experts, work for the world-leader and protect the environment for generations to come.
Learn from world Years of non-stop £ Team up with hundreds experts experience Get paid to learn of apprentices Editor's Letter Editor’s Letter Behind the scenes: buildingpage 10 waste storage boxes
hat comes to mind when you think of Sellafield? The site is so iconic that it is often our historic roles that come to mind first. Is it a nuclear power station? No, we haven’t generated electricity since Calder Hall closed in 2003. Indeed, the footprint Our employees raised more than £75,000 Wwhere the station’s cooling towers once stood is now a construction site for new for local charities in the run up to Christmas page 18 nuclear facilities (see page 26). Is it a waste dump? No, but we do have an unrivalled nuclear waste capability, and our demand for safe storage is creating jobs for the next generation of nuclear workers across the country (see page 10). Is it a reprocessing site? Actually, yes, but only for a few more years. In 2018 the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant will shear its last fuel, with the Magnox Reprocessing Plant following suit in 2020. Follow our countdown to the end of reprocessing on page 34. With the end of reprocessing our focus will shift entirely to the environmental Thousands of young people have started remediation of the nuclear site. Keeping Sellafield safe and making it safer. their careers as an apprentice at Sellafield We are transforming our business, reskilling and redeploying our employees page 79 from reprocessing into new roles (page 63), creating an environment where supply chain companies can develop technology for us that can then be exported to other markets (see page 40), and working differently with the supply chain (see page 38 and page 54). We are also transforming our approach to social impact, working with stakeholders to create the best possible future for our communities. The new man in charge, Gary McKeating, gives us an exclusive look at our new social impact strategy on page 52. Social impact: new lead, new approach, Not everything is changing. We have recently launched our 2018 new strategy page 52 apprenticeship programmes, with this year’s intake set to follow in the footsteps of more than 10,000 apprentices who have started their career with us over the KeepKtdtith up to date with our progress at tSl Sellafield:l fi ld past 65 years (see our photo feature on page 79). Our focus on cleaning up the Sellafield site also endures. It is why we are www.gov.uk/sellafieldltd here. We made great strides in this nationally important mission in 2017 (see @SellafieldLtd page 19) and are excited about the challenges ahead in 2018. If you have any feedback on Sellafield Magazine, do get in touch at [email protected].
On the cover
Providing safe containment for nuclear waste for centuries is going to involve the manufacture of containers on a scale never before seen in the UK. Read all about our 3m3 boxes on page 10.
3 Contents Contents
43
6 What is Transformation? Our mission at Sellafield is changing
8 LATEST NEWS Since September we have… 10 Cubey Do 25 Providing safe containment for nuclear waste 25 Nine gold safety awards for Sellafield Ltd Safety performance recognised 43 From the archives Avexis, 1965 26 PHOTO FEATURE 44 In Focus: Calder Hall Evaporator D From cooling towers to The fourth addition to our fleet construction site of evaporators 32 A relatively good year for physics! 50 INTERVIEW Gary McKeating We have some jolly good fellows Head of community relations 33 From the archives 52 Social Impact Strategy 16 Boxing Clever Sellafield Laboratory, 1962 Sharing knowledge saves millions An overview of our new approach of pounds 34 Thorp to social impact It’s the final countdown 18 ’Twas the Season 54 LINC with Sellafield Our own Santa’s little helpers raise 38 Supporting Sellafield’s Opening the door for smaller thousands for local charities supply chain businesses Our employees hard at work in the 56 INTERVIEW Gary McKee 19 Looking back at 2017 supply chain A year of progress Running man: 100 marathons in 40 Whatever floats our boat 100 days The story behind Avexis 58 It’s good to talk Raising awareness of mental health
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS Looking Starting a conversation back at about mental health 2017 19 9 58
4 Contents
RESKILLING AND REDEPLOYING A look back at more than Making sure you have people with the right skills 63 in the right place 65 years of apprentice training at Sellafield 7979
60 On the buses 78 Women in nuclear Reays Coaches go from strength Our award winning women to strength 79 PHOTO FEATURE 62 Stacks of progress Apprentice special Tackling our tallest hazard Celebrating more than 65 years of apprentice training 62 Tonnes to go Reprocessing is near to completion 91 10 facts Investing in our workforce 63 The right skills in the right places Our employees take up their next 92 Director’s Forum challenge at Sellafield Supply chain questions answeredd
66 Our unsung heroes 96 PHOTOGRAPHER in residencence Celebrating the work of our teams Less is more
68 INTERVIEW Duncan Thompson 98 Five minutes with... Non-executive director Julia McClelland
71 To infinity and beyond Behind the scenes at the 2017 Infinity Festival 71 56
Marathon man,
OUR UNSUNG HEROES Gary McKee, gives How important are his advice for facing the Water Treatment 66 Plant and Inactive Tank Farm facilities? challenges in life What is… WHAT IS… Transformation
ur mission is changing, and so Transformation is first and foremost from the taxpayer, so demonstrating changing the way we work is about making sure we have the right greater progress and value for money Ounavoidable. Transformation is working arrangements and practices for is essential. As the government makes about making the very best of that change. this new focus. choices about how to prioritise its support Sellafield is the UK’s most complex By working more effectively, efficiently for all the services that rely on its funding nuclear site. A pioneer for the UK’s and flexibly, we will accelerate our – from hospitals and schools to national nuclear industry, it has supported programmes of work – removing hazards security and the nuclear industry – we national defence, generated electricity and reducing risks more quickly. want to make sure that investing money in for nearly half a century, developed Key to this will be how we work with Sellafield is an easy choice for them. the country’s ability to manage nuclear the supply chain. Through collaboration The environmental restoration of waste safely, and brought billions of we will find innovative solutions to deliver Sellafield will take decades, but that pounds of revenue into the UK through our clean-up mission more quickly and mission will eventually end. As a major its reprocessing capability. improve value for money for taxpayers. employer we want to work with our This year we will complete our These innovations could then be sold communities to help create a vibrant reprocessing mission in Thorp. The by the supply chain to other and diverse local economy that mission in the Magnox Reprocessing customers and industries, doesn’t rely solely on the Plant will be completed in 2020. These helping the supply site. The changes we facilities have supported the nuclear chain grow stronger By working more make as we transform industry nationally and internationally and attract inward effectively, efficiently our organisation can while generating income that has helped investment from and flexibly, we help to create future to offset the cost of cleaning up our site. the global nuclear will accelerate our choices that were All of the reprocessing contracts will have decommissioning programmes of work – never afforded to been completed and their job will have market into our the coal-fields, the been done, and the clean-up of Sellafield communities. removing hazards and shipyards or the will be our sole mission. Our funding comes reducing risks more steelworks. quickly.
WHY ARE WE WHAT IS CHANGING? WHY IS TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING The biggest changes we will see in our SELLAFIELD SO IMPORTANT? SELLAFIELD? everyday work are: • We need to think and act differently Reprocessing is ending and our 1. Organising everything we do to deliver our changing mission. mission is changing. We need around value streams; Retrievals, • New relationships and solutions to do different things, and do Remediation, Spent Fuel Manage- will help us make Sellafield safer, things differently, to operate as an ment, Special Nuclear Materials. sooner. environmental clean-up company. 2. Developing the leadership • Helping the supply chain to and culture that are all about strengthen and diversify makes performance. our economies and communities 3. Improving our systems and tools to stronger and more sustainable. help us all work as a single business.
6 What is…
In the next two years, reprocessing operations at Sellafield will end and the focus of our organisation will shift to environmental clean-up. This change in mission requires us to think and act differently… and it could deliver far-reaching benefits for our communities and partners as well as for the site.
7 Since September
Since September we have…
LAUNCHED... a scheme to encourage local and national SMEs to collaborate and deliver innovative solutions to our challenges at Sellafield (see page 54). SUBMERGED... a remotely operated machine in Sellafield’s most hazardous nuclear waste store for the first time (see page 40).
PRACTISED... our emergency arrangements with an overnight emergency exercise.
PUBLISHED... INTRODUCED... our discharges and nuclear material into our environmental monitoring newest highly active waste annual report for 2016. evaporator – Evaporator Delta (see page 44).
8 Since September
AWARDED... CELEBRATED... a share of a multi-million pound the achievements contract to TSP Engineering and of our own Cavendish Nuclear to produce women in nuclear 50-tonne waste transfer containers. (see page 78).
ENGAGED... WON... with our employees working Gold Awards in Thorp on their next roles from the Royal once reprocessing has been Society for the completed (see page 63). Prevention of Accidents (see page 25).
ENCOURAGED...INSTALLED... construction workers at Sellafield to open up about mental health STARTED... (see page 58). the demolition of one of Sellafield’s tallest hazards, a stack that sits on top of the First Generation Reprocessing Plant (see page 62).
9 Safe storage
10 Safe storage
CUBEY DO
Our new focus entirely on environmental remediation means putting all the waste from one of the most hazardous and complicated industrial sites on the planet in safe containment for centuries to come. That’s going to involve manufacturing the right nuclear waste storage containers on a scale never before seen in the UK. For advanced manufacturers ready to think outside the box in how they work with us, it’s a new age of opportunity.
11 Safe storage
e wasn’tn’t quiteq still in short troustrousers, butb Dannyanny Lynch was Ha schoolboyboy when thee door ininto thee nuclear industrys opened for him. Chatterishhatteris manufacturmanufacturinga ing firm MeeMetalcraft wasaas highlighting iits apprenticeshipapprenticesh opportunitiesppportunities in local Cambridgeshire schoolschools and something about whwwhat they didd caughtaught Danny’s eye. He aappliedp d therethe AroundArooundo 2,2000 andnnd startedd as an apprapprentice engineern in 3 Septembereeptember 2015.. Almost immedimmediately,d his 3m boxesoxes wwilwilll eyeye was caught again.a “Sellafield hadd just announcede that be neededn e foro they’dd awarded a big contract to us to make metaletal boxes,o sso two of our workshops were being transformed into the Pilee FuelFu shiny new spaces,”s saidd Danny. “We wewerwere shownshow videos and visuals of the pprproducts CladdiCladdingn Silo we’dee’d be making. We could also see the neweew equipment beingb brought in:inn robotic as itst contentsn s weldingeelding machines, high-spec finfinishingn tools.ools. As soon as I saw it I kneww that nuclearnuuclear engineering was the futfutureureu here arer emptiedp d andnnd thisis was what I wanted to do.”d Up in Stockton-on-Teesockton-on-Teesckton-on in thethh North overver tthehe next 1100 East,aast, one of the UK’sU areas of highesthi unemployment,nnemployment, ShaunS Daniels ((pictured, too 12 years.yyearss rightg and on previousv page) is kneelingkneen inside a steel cubeb inside a workshop at Darchem Engineering.Engineerin Flashes of neon blue dancdance acrosacrosscros the reflective glasss of hhis welding maskk as heh carefullyar lays downw a line of moltenmolteolte metaleetal into the cornerr of the cubecube.e Like Danny, Shaun joined thee businessuusiness as an apprentice. The precisione in his welding has beene hard earnedeaarneda after four years of intensiveintenssives trainingaaining to get him up to theth exacexactinga standardsaandards demandedmande by industriesindustr suchuch as nuclear, aeronautical, oilo and gas,aas, and medical equipment. Two young mene with bright, and clearly-defined,defined, futuresu ahead of them. Both Darchemhememm EngineeringEEn and Metalcraftaftft are makinga ng the 3m³ boxes which wwill hold theh legacy intermediateintermediat levelvvel waste currentlyn residing in oneo of thee world’s oldests nuclear wastee stores, thee Pile Fuel CladdingCladdind Silo. Highlyy engineered to allow ananyn hydrogen to be safely vented andn builtbui fromfrom super-strong Duplex steel,stee a totaltota of 2,200 3m³ boxes will bbe needneededd as thee contents aree emptiedem over 110-12 yearsears – meaning both companiescompaniee will bee making the 1.3-tonne,3 double-double skinned, grouted containers at the rate of two a week fromo the production lines they’ve now established.estaestablishblis The automatic weldingg macmachines they’lly’ll beb using canca turntu a 3-hourr weld by handand into a
12 Safe storage
4-minutee job. The boxese are designedd to last thehhe Silo Emptyingn Plant machinen which reachesreache Thehe at least 5005 years to see them throughh their down and grabss the legacy waste. journey into a Geological Disposal Facility.c The contractss to make these boxes are Thee productionp volumes are only goinggoiggoin expected to bee awardeda by the end of 2019 productionducductioctioc to getge bigger,g r, meaning more manufacturingmanu c ng and thee currecurrent tthinkingking is that, like the Pile FueFuelu contractstss will be going out to tender. OOur CladdingCladdi Silo boxes,o moree than one companyy volumvolumess arere highest hhazard facility, tthe Magnox SwSwarfw willw be making themh so we havee a diverse rangerangg Storage Silo, is going too need an estimestimatedm off suppliers. Thee expected throthroughputo of the onlyy goingn to 15,00000 3m³3 boxes to storet the waste beingbeinb MagnoxM Swarf StorageS Silo 3m³m boxes will be scooped out of the legacya silo over the next foroor our suppliers to be able to makem 22 a monthm two decades. Thee design of the box is slightly – and that’s taking the nuclear industryindus into a gegetete bigger. different from the Pile FuelF el CladdingClaCl Silo wholewhole new ‘Model T’ productionproduct o line mentality.m ones, mainly becausebe tthe silo boxes have a detachablehableab inner containera which is filledfille inside (cont overleaf) >> 13 Safe storage
Thanks to an innovative new Glenn McCracken, our head of approach in how we treat and store the portfolio for decommissioning, said: By using waste, retrievals from the Magnox Swarf “We’re on the brink of seeing waste Storage Silo have been accelerated. retrievals starting from our two legacy There will be a new contract competition silos, with both facilities expected to robotic welding starting in 2018 to make these 3m3 start getting the waste out in 2019. That boxes, but some are already in the will be a massive moment, but as well machines a job production pipeline so we can start as getting it out, we need to be sure getting waste out in 2019 before the big that the waste has got somewhere safe which would take box manufacturing contracts kick to go to. That means having enough in and the main facility to take the waste, boxes ready to be filled and having the Box Encapsulation Plant which is the confidence that a conveyor belt of 3 hours by hand currently under construction, opens production will be delivering a steady in 2021. stream of them.” takes 4 minutes.
14 Safe storage
The ‘conveyor belt’ isn’t just in the which manufacturers to choose. But manufacturing. We have to consider Sellafield has been really innovative where they’ll be stored while empty, in building in the requirement for and the logistics of transport and manufacturers to demonstrate what delivery. As a Government-funded the social impact would be of winning a body, there’s a lengthy and robust contract so that we can use that as an procurement process to adhere to (the assessment tool too. Pile Fuel Cladding Silo box contract “We want to know that the work formally started in 2013, when a we’re awarding is having the maximum Pre-Qualification Questionnaire for benefit for local communities and manufacturers was first published). So future economic growth.” years of planning have already gone It’s fair to say the award of the Pile into a process which is now really Fuel Cladding Silo 3m³ box contracts starting to ramp up. to Darchem Engineering and Metalcraft It’s not just the legacy silos which in 2015 caused some local unrest in need boxes for waste. The First Cumbria. Neither company was based Generation Magnox Storage Pond in Cumbria and the fact that Stockton needs self shielded boxes. These are is a defined area of local deprivation whole different beasts from the 3m³ and Metalcraft a recognised Small to boxes, as the need for shielding sees Medium Sized Enterprise held little sway the weight rocketing from around one with some locals. The importance of and a half tonnes to 35 tonnes and adhering to public contract regulations they’re cast as a single piece. The and the fact that both are now delivering contract, won by Westinghouse, was what’s needed to start retrievals in 2019 to make an initial 247 self shielded can be lost in the clamour for local jobs. boxes for storing zeolite skips. The Manufacturing businesses procurement built in the potential in Cumbria can be competitive. to make 500 more as new waste is Workington firm TSP Engineering won identified as suitable for storage in a contract in November 2017 to jointly It’s clear that there will be plenty of manufacturing opportunities and, when it comes to deciding who will be making our waste containers, not all of our eggs will come from the same basket.
them (such as u-bit bins containing manufacture the first new transfer fragments of fuel). packages – shielded flasks opening The broadfront decommissioning from the bottom which will be used to and remediation mission outside the transport the skips of waste out of the legacy ponds and silos is also going Magnox Swarf Storage Silo. And we to need a huge amount of waste are making the commitment to building containers (see Boxing Clever on in social impact as a crucial factor page 16). when assessing tenders. With this volume of demand It’s clear that there will be plenty and scale of public spending, we of manufacturing opportunities and, are planning very carefully about when it comes to deciding who will how we can use the opportunity to be making our waste containers, achieve maximum benefits in the not all of our eggs will come from manufacturing opportunities ahead. the same basket. A rich, diverse “Obviously we have to take in a manufacturing supply chain able to range of considerations when weighing make the same products in different up tenders for manufacturing work,” ways and operating with us in different said Glenn McCracken. “Schedule, partnership approaches is good news quality and overall cost price are all for the nuclear industry as it spreads essential factors in helping us decide both the capacity and the risk. Q
15 Safe storage
BOXINGBOXXINGX CLEVERLE E
Adoptingtinging a designg from elselsewhere in the NNDA estate,e has ledd to huge savingsg on the cost of precisionr engineeredneeneerederee boxes that will beb used to supportsu p the decommdecommissionings ning oof thehe whole SellafieldS s site.s
he task of decommissioningommissioningmmiss oning the Sellafield site will Right across the NDA estate,estate, companies are take generations.generatio Lotss will changehange as we deliverde workingking to decommissiondecomm and cleanean up their sitessitesites. This Tthat work.wor But one thingi is certain – wew will create creates similarmilamilar waste managementa problemproblemsblem to solve. waste and it’ss our job to managen it as cost-cost-effectively- as Recognisingg this, we’ve workedo with MagMagnoxg Ltd, the we can. company wwho are cleaningg up the country’scountrr Magnox Engineeredd boxes won’t just be used too support reactor sites,s to share best practice.practi retrievalsvals fromm our legacy silos, they will alsos be usedus to Packagingn engineers Maz Hussein and Justin support thehe cclean-up of the Sellafield site.AsA AAs t they’reth for Knowless woworkedorkedo with Ciara Walsh from ouro wwaste a differentifferentffere use,e in different facilities, they’reth of a differedifferentdiffer strategytrategyrateg expertp on thithisthis. dedesign to the boxes that will be used for retrievalst fromm our silos. Butt they’re no lesss important. Broad frontnnt decommissioningo will createe intermediate level waste.ste. ThisT waste will eeventually be disposeddispos of in Eveneen a smallsm thee country’s geological disposalp facility. Until this point,poi it will be securely stored onn thetht SellafieldS site in 3m3 reductionn in the boxesboxes.oxes As thehe boxes are for long-termg use,e, it is importimportantimpor price peperr box coucouldld that they’re fitt forfor purposepurpose andandn lastlast thethe distadistance.a However, as wew need thousandsa of them, it’siit also important thata they’re designedn cost effectively.effectit Even OHDGWRVLJQLÀFDQWGGWRVLJQLÀFDQWL À W a small reductionc in the price per box couldd lead to significantant long longn term term savings. longg term savings.savingsv
16 Safe storage
Maz Hussein, explains: “As we decommission challenged whether it was even possible to get them for Sellafield, we’ll create intermediate level waste, and we the price we were quoted. When it became clear this need containers for this waste that can be used for was the case, people assumed it was because they storage and then disposal. But we’re not alone in facing didn’t meet our quality standards. But the boxes have this challenge. Magnox Ltd is creating similar wastes and now been through full scrutiny and have been signed off has produced a box that can be used for this purpose.” as fit for purpose and meeting our needs.” “Rather than produce a bespoke box, we’ve worked As the costs of waste storage and disposal will be with Magnox and will instead use the one they have an increasing proportion of our budget in the future, designed, which can be manufactured much more it’s important we make the right waste management cost-effectively.” decisions now. Challenging our assumptions on waste The individual saving per box is significant, but when costs is an important way of doing this. you consider we’ll need more than 43,000 of them, The work on these boxes was made possible thanks you realise this equates to a total saving of more than to collaboration across the NDA estate, and special £1bn. Our waste integration manager, Ciara Walsh, said: thanks must go to our colleagues at Magnox Ltd. Q “When we first looked at the Magnox boxes, we were
“ Rather than produce a bespoke box, we’ve worked with Magnox and will instead use the one they have designed.”
17 Christmas Appeal ’17 Christmas Appeal ’17
’Twas the Season In the run up to the festive season, Santa’s little helpers from across our business and supply chain came together to make sure that the holidays were a happy time for as many people as possible in our local communities.
We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our employees and supply WE RAISED: chain colleagues as they rallied behind our • Shoebox appeal for the elderly – 120 shoe Christmas appeal in 2017. boxes full of gifts were delivered to elderly care Speaking at the launch of the Christmas appeal, home residents at Castle Mount, Bethany House, head of community and development, Jamie Reed, Bethshan, Dentholme and Wyndam House. said: “We are intrinsically linked to our communi- • North Lakes Foodbank – 800kg worth of ties. There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’. When you donate tinned food will make up around 150 food packs toys for local children there is a good chance that for families in need. they will end up in houses on your street. When you donate to a food bank it is likely that you have • Cash4Kids ‘Mission Christmas’ – £6,365 cash helped a friend of a friend to feed their families. You donations and £52,217 worth of gifts will help have the power to make a real difference to the 700 children in Cumbria. Courage the Cat’s visit lives of people in your community during what can to site brought in an extra £2,300. be a very stressful time of the year. • Home Start, Warrington – Over 400 bedtime gifts contributed to 61 bedtime hampers for “Our pledge for Christmas 2017 is to support children with an additional cash donation of more charities so that a broader range of people £323.44. in our community benefit. We want to collect toys, money, food and household items that will help • Room at the Inn, Warrington – Hundreds of the young, the elderly, and families. I hope that tins and toiletries donated to Room at the Inn. everyone will dig deep and make sure that this An additional £323.44 cash was raised at Christmas is a happy time for one and all.” Daresbury and an extra £335 came from Christmas Jumper day. Over 6 weeks our teams donated gifts, toys, tins of food and cash to three Cumbria-based Christ- • Families and Wellbeing toy appeal – mas charities, Cash4Kids, North Lakes Foodbank Hundreds of gifts and pyjamas were donated for families supported by Warrington Borough and the shoebox appeal for the elderly and three Council’s Neighbourhood team. Warrington-based charities, raising a total of £75,000 for the six charities.
18 Looking back at 2017
2017 may be remembered by many as the year that Donald Trump became the President of the United States, or the year that Prince Harry announced his plans to marry. But for us, 2017 was the year that we made strides in the clean-up of our highest hazard buildings and was a year where the Looking impact of our transformation was felt E\VRPHRIRXUHPSOR\HHVIRUWKHÀUVW time as they moved into new roles. It was also a year where we embedded back at the importance of delivering a 2017 positive social impact into our biggest contracts with the supply chain.
Leading the way for equality Award-winning apprentice Jade White took a stand for Adam Sharp beat strong equality and diversity when competition from the best she disagreed with claims that apprentices in the country to buying pink, gender-stereotyped be named the Advanced Level presents for girls puts them Apprentice of the Year at the off getting into science-based National Apprentice Awards. careers. She made a video with the BBC, showing her role at Sellafield and arguing that: “Love, encouragement and reassurance of what I was good at from my parents, sister and school teachers gave me the confidence to go for what I wanted to do. It had nothing to do with whether I liked the colour pink or not!”
The perfect partnership A unique agreement was formalised by us and the National Nuclear Laboratory. We will work together to deliver more value for the UK taxpayer.
19 Looking back at 2017
Retrievals machine Sludge storage The first350-tonne retrievals For the first time, radioactive machine was installed in the sludge from the world’s oldest Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, one of nuclear storage pond was the world’s most challenging nuclear packaged safely using an clean-up jobs. The £100 million 350 existing waste plant at Sellafield. machine will scoop radioactive The waste was grouted and waste out of the silo. tonne placed in modern storage.
'HÁHFWRUSODWHV A big speech We successfully removed the first two Our strategy and technical deflector plates from the inside of the director, Rebecca Westonn, Pile Fuel Cladding Silo, clearing the way was invited to talk to the for the waste retrieval machinery. House of Lords science andd technology select committee.ee. She answered questions onn the future of nuclear policy, gave her view on what a sectorctor deal for the nuclear industryy might look like, and offered her thoughts on what the future of Euratom might be in a post-Brexit world. 51% of our employees took part in a Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estate-wide survey on Equality Bloomberg TV and Diversity. US broadcaster Bloomberg TV broadcast a feature on how we are working with our supply chain to develop robots to help us clean-up the Sellafield site, sharing our innovations with millions of people around the world.
Apprentice of the Year Jack Riley and Jason Savage were named Scientific and Technical Apprentice of the Year Pipework isolations and Business Support After around 30 years of careful monitoring 19 community Apprentice of the Year to assess and manage the risk posed at the National Skills by the redundant effluent and sludge projects Academy for Nuclear pipework system network in the First from across Cumbria were (NSAN) Awards. Generation Magnox Storage Pond, we chosen by the community to completed the final isolation, removing the receive a share of £580,000 to risk of sludge or radioactive liquor leaking help deliver their projects. in or around the facility.
20 Looking back at 2017
International Transgender Day Corporate documents We marked International Transgender Day of We published our corporate strategy and Visibility to show support for employees within transformation plan. The strategy maintains our the transgender community, demonstrating our focus on three strategic themes – safe and secure commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. site stewardship, demonstrable progress, and return on investment. It has a clear line of sight upwards, through the NDA Specification and NDA Strategy to the UK Energy Act. The transformation plan focuses on the significant changes we need to make to ensure we can respond to future needs and opportunities.
More than 130 young nuclear professionals graduated from our A new model nationally recognised apprenticeship Work to introduce a new schemes. procurement model that will change how major projects are delivered at the Sellafield nuclear site over the next 20 years got under way. When it is awarded in 2018, the Programme and Project Partners model will see 20 us procure four long-term partners, years and work as the 5th partner. Running man One of our employees, Gary McKee, crossed the finishing line of the London Marathon with moremore thanthan 50,00050,000 otherother runners. ButBut forfor Gary,Gary, the marathon was his 100th in 101000 consecutiveconsecutive days.days. TheThe challengechallenge raraisedised more than £100,000£100,000 for Macmillan CancerCancer SupportSupport and earned GGaryary the Freedom ofof the BorouBoroughgh in Copeland.
Community role John Oliver, our waste retrievals director, was appointed to the Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners Board. He is working alongside local partners and agencies to protect and promote the heritage of the harbour and to contribute to the broader regeneration of Whitehaven and the surrounding area.
2IÀFHUVVXSSRUWLQJ\RX An OBE for Dorothy Civil Nuclear Constabulary officers based at Dorothy Gradden, head of Sellafield and other nuclear sites across the UK programme delivery for the legacy were deployed in support of Home Office security ponds at Sellafield, was awarded forces, providing additional levels of protection an OBE for services to the nuclear in civilian areas after the Government raised the industry in the Queen’s Birthday national terror threat level to the highest level of Honours list. “critical”. Army personnel were deployed to backfill the constabulary at a number of civil nuclear sites including Sellafield.
21 Looking back at 2017 The 50 metre crawl A self-climbing platform completed its 50 metre crawl to the top of the redundant Primary GOV.uk Separation Plant chimney stack at Sellafield. The platform will provide demolition teams with access to the stack so that it can be demolished.
New website We moved from a standalone website to become part of the GOV.UK platform, reflecting *ROGIRU6HOODÀHOG our role as a publicly funded organisation and 9 We were awarded nine gold giving us the potential to share the Sellafield awards by the Royal Society for the story with the billions of people who use Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). GOV.UK every year.
Contract opportunities We awarded a four-year Operations Site Works framework contract to provide engineering support services to our reprocessing plants and associated facilities. The contract was won by OneAIM – a joint venture between Amec Foster Wheeler and Interserve, and has a maximum value of £160m.
Recycling lives A waste recycling company opened a new depot in Workington and created local jobs in West Cumbria when they won a contract to recycle metal from Sellafield. ‘Recycling Lives’ will also set up a food distribution charity with centres throughout Cumbria, reflecting the importance of creating a positive social impact as a result of working with us at Sellafield.
Our new machine Plasma cuts A remotely operated machine was sent into Sellafield’s We made the first plasma cuts from the most hazardous nuclear waste store for the first time. It was self-climbing platform to begin the removal of developed by Cumbrian firm Forth Engineering with support the cowl at the top of the stack on the First from the University of Manchester. Generation Reprocessing Plant.
Sonar Sonar technology helped us to build a profile of the sludge bed in the Sludge Packaging Plant.
22 Looking back at 2017
3 2QHGRZQÀYHWRJR 3m boxes The world’s oldest nuclear waste store – the Pile Fuel We successfully tested and validated the first ‘package’ that Cladding Silo – was cut open for the first time. This was will transport waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo. We the first of six holes that will allow radioactive waste to be also fabricated the first of three flasks to transport 3m3 boxes removed from the silo. carrying waste from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo.
We successfully completed a site- wide outage where all of our operational facilities closed down for essential maintenance.
100 drums Successful completion We exported the 100th drum The first nine project management apprentices started full-time of sludge from the Pile Fuel roles with us having successfully completed their four-year Storage Pond to the Waste apprenticeship programme. Encapsulation Plant.
U-bit bins Evaporator Delta The first ever export of ‘u-bit bins’ which are untipped, uncemented, uranium bit bins, from the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond to the Fuel Handling Plant The active connections to our new highly at Sellafield was completed. The bins, which contain fuel fragments and some active waste evaporator – Evaporator D – sludge, represent a quarter of the pond’s total fuel-bearing inventory. were completed, meaning that the plant was ready to start final tests before active operations.
23 Looking back at 2017
NEED TO FIND IMAGE
50-tonne containers We announced that two UK companies had won a share of a multi-million Five down one to go pound ‘container’ contract that will be vital to clean-up work at Sellafield. We completed the removal of all of the TSP Engineering Ltd and Cavendish Nuclear will supply containers for deflector plates from inside the Pile Fuel decommissioning the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo. The 50-tonne containers Cladding Silo and prepared to start cutting the will be used to move radioactive material from the silo to newly constructed final hole in the side of the silo. treatment and storage facilities on the site.
Congratulations to mechanical fitter £10m project Lydia Rowell who We installed a new crane into received a regional the Magnox Swarf Storage advanced apprentice Silo. The £10m project will award from the support waste retrievals. National Apprentice Service.
Employee engagement Following months of discussion, consultation and engagement, On 6 November, all Thorp employees received a letter which gave them clarity on their proposed future role and area they will be working in after April 2019.
Christmas Appeal 2017 We launched our Christmas campaign for 2017 to help make a positive difference to the lives of people in our local 291 Tonnes Exercise communities. Employees As the plant prepared to enter We demonstrated our donated food for the its final year, the team in Thorp emergency arrangements North Lakes Foodbank, sheared 291 tonnes of fuel in 2017. with a night time toys for CFM’s Mission emergency exercise. Christmas appeal, and gifts for the elderly.
24 RoSPA Awards Nine gold safety awards for Sellafield Ltd
ellafield Ltd has been awarded nine gold RoSPA gold awards 2017 included one Sawards by the Royal Society for the each for Operations, Projects, Technical Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). and Engineering,ering, EHS&Q anandd one awardaward The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards are for Sellafieldd Ltd.Ltd. EachEach ofof thethe fourfour legalegacycy among the world’s most prestigious safety programmeses inin WasteWaste RRetrievalsetrievals was accolades. They recognise our safety recognised with a Gold Award. performance in 2016/17, a year in which we Julia Small,mall, RoSPA’s head ofof made significant progress in the clean-up of four awards andd events,events, said:said: “The“The of the most hazardous buildings in Europe. RoSPA Awardsards aarere ththee mostmost Retrievals Director, John Oliver, explained: prestigious inin thethe worldworld “We have installed the first retrievals machine of occupationalonal healthhealth that will remove waste from the Magnox Swarf and safety, andand heldheld inin Storage Silo, removed more than 50 tonnes of high regard around nuclear fuel from the First Generation Magnox the world, asas winningwinning Storage Pond, fit doors onto the side of the one demonstratesnstrates Pile Fuel Cladding Silo and removed the first an organisation’sation’s drum of radioactive sludge from the Pile Fuel commitmentnt ttoo Storage Pond. maintainingg an excellent healthealth Environment, Health, Safety and Quality and safety rrecord.ecord. (EHS&Q) Director, Euan Hutton, said: “We Achieving thehe take these awards as a badge of pride in our standard requiredequired safety performance and, while we want to is no mean feat.”feat.” improve our safety performance, we are proud of the work our people have done to deserve these awards.”
“Completing this technically difficult work while maintaining an unrelenting focus on safety, is a credit to our teams and the supply chain.”
For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards
25 Calder Hall From cooling towers to construction site
26 Calder Hall
The four cooling towers at Calder Hall dominated the Sellafield and West Cumbrian skyline for two generations. Their billowing steam was a signal of the atomic age. The Sellafield site continued to develop around the Calder Hall station with available land becoming increasingly scarce.
1950s
27 Calder Hall
Bringing the cooling towers to the ground in a controlled detonation was the work of moments, but was years in the planning. Employees and local residents watched the demolition with mixed emotions. For some it was a sad day, for others it was the first visible demonstration that our focus was shifting to the clean-up of Sellafield. The demolition also created valuable space on the site.
28 Calder Hall
2007
29 Calder Hall
The footprint of the two towers that stood toward the south of the site created a construction site for buildings that would help us tackle the clean-up of our legacy ponds and silos. Today the footprint is home to the Silos Maintenance Facility, a new build that is currently being commissioned ready to start work later this year.
30 Calder Hall
2018
31 Good year for physics
A relatively good year for physics!
If physics is concerned with answering some of the biggest questions in the world – did we all start with a big bang? – then we have just the fellows to help provide the answers. It has been quite a year for our physicists...
ur commitment to the professional to have an independent organisation of the development of our employees calibre of the Institute of Physics recognise Jolly good fellows Othroughout their careers has been the work that we do to recruit, train and then recognised by the Institute of Physics at their continually develop people is a real honour.” We were proud to see recent annual awards. Speaking after the event, Dawn said: “It that four of our employees The awards are designed to recognise was great to be in a room with so many were made a Fellow of the and reward excellence in people and teams physicists, but really good to see that so Institute of Physics in 2017. who have made outstanding and exceptional many of them were women.” Congratulations to: contributions to the strength of physics. They A passionate supporter of encouraging reflect the breadth of the work in the physics more girls and women to take up DAWN WATSON, community across academia, industry, scientific based careers, Dawn attended Strategy implementation education and outreach. an international conference on Women manager On the night we scooped the award for in Physics earlier in 2017. She gave a CIARA WALSH, ‘best practice in professional development’. presentation on diversity in the nuclear Waste integration manager The award is given to those who commend, sector to more than 200 delegates from celebrate and promote the very best in 30 countries around the world, including PAUL COOK, training and professional development Pakistan, Mexico, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nuclear materials opportunities for physicists at any stage of Australia, Canada, the US and Argentina. technical manager their career. It was so well received that she was invited SHAUN KELSO, Dawn Watson accepted the award and to talk to undergraduates at Nottingham said: “It is easy for us to say that Sellafield University about getting a job after a Senior policy adviser Ltd is a really good company to work for, but physics degree. Q
32 From our archives
Sellafield Laboratory, 1962
An early Electron Microscope being used to inspect nuclear fuel.
33 Thorp: the final countdown
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
Later this year the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant – or Thorp as it is known – will shear the final batch of fuel, signalling the end of almost a quarter of a century of reprocessing. While the end of a product line in most industries would have inevitably resulted in redun- dancies, we have taken steps to ensure that each and every person impacted by the end of operations has a new role to go to at Sellafield.
34 Thorp: the final countdown
In November this year Thorp will shear its role beyond reprocessing. the business, in some cases they will be final fuel, completing the primary role of In November last year, 470 Thorp retrained to do a completely different job. one of Sellafield’s most well documented employees received a letter giving them Thorp is the first operating plant to go facilities. Once the final fuel has been clarity on what their proposed future role through a major transition in a number sheared Thorp’s ponds will be used to would be once the reprocessing mission of years and the change is a huge leap store spent nuclear fuel from EDF Energy’s ends in April 2019. in the transformation of the site. It is Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors ahead of its The letter didn’t come as a surprise to understandable that people are nervous final disposal. The rest of the building will go anyone as work was carried out to prepare about the change and what the future holds through a period of post operational clean and ensure everyone had input into the but the transition team are committed to out, so that it can be decommissioned. process for placing them in their future role. helping everyone through this period. As well as making plans for how Thorp’s Some learned that they will remain in The roles will not be confirmed until April assets can continue to support the UK’s Thorp to focus on the Post Operational this year with a further full year before people nuclear industry, we have also been working Clean Out (POCO) once reprocessing move in April 2019. Our focus throughout hard to ensure that the people working in the has been completed. Others learned that that time will be on completing our plant have some certainty about their next their new role will be in another part of reprocessing mission in Thorp with pride.
35 Thorp: the final countdown
Thorp’s story started back in the mid-1970s, when a new fleet of nuclear reactors came online and used oxide fuels rather than Magnox fuel. Thorp was designed to be able to reprocess this fuel after it had been used inside the reactors. In 1978, after a long and detailed public inquiry, the government approved the construction of Thorp – a new building at Sellafield that would house the facilities needed to reprocess fuel under one roof. Construction got under way in 1981 in the centre of Sellafield on previously derelict land. Its formidable size – it stretches for a third of a mile – and presence means that you’re never far from this reprocessing beast. Its storage pond is the size of 20 Olympic swimming pools, at 73m long, 23m wide and 8m deep – it received its first fuel in 1988 and will continue to store fuel for our customers well into the future. The construction project dominated the site, and the local area. Local towns and villages were filled with the thousands of construction workers required to make this one-stop shop a reality. It was one of the biggest construction projects of its times and saw more than 5,000 people on site and a further 10,000 roles in the supply chain. That’s a workforce bigger than the population of our nearest town, Egremont. Thorp sheared its first batch of fuel in 1994 and with a large Japanese customer base the building quickly became the highest yen earner for the UK government. With only 538 tonnes of fuel left to be reprocessed, we expect the last batch to start the process in November this year meaning that all reprocessing activities in the building will be completed in April 2019.
36 Thorp: the final countdown
37 Supporting Sellafield’s supply chain
Supporting Sellafield’s supply chain Closer working with the supply chain is something we’ve been talking about a lot recently. It can mean many different things to many different people. We look at one example, and how it’s providing benefits, not just to us, but also to PaR Systems and the National Nuclear Laboratory.
mployees from the supply chain working on the ESellafield site has been a familiar sight for many years. But the reverse – our employees working out in the supply chain, on their work programmes, is all something that managing director together less common. John McGibbon quickly explored: Yet on a small industrial site “At the start of 2017, we heard just outside of the Sellafield site that this was an opportunity and in Seascale, that’s exactly what is we realised that the expertise we happening. could gain from Sellafield might PaR Systems is a specialist perfectly complement our own engineering firm. Whilst it has specialist skills. a worldwide presence and a “When we won a contract that history that can be traced back included the refurbishment of to the earliest days of the nuclear a crane at the National Nuclear industry in the United States of Laboratory on the Sellafield site, America, it’s only had a presence we realised we had the ideal in the UK since 2011. opportunity. Crane refurbishment This meant that when we is new scope for PaR in the offered to second our employees UK, so we sought the support to support their work, it was of Sellafield’s crane team for
38 Supporting Sellafield’s supply chain
expertise and resource to We’ve been made to feel an supplement our own.” integral part of the PaR team. “The process was pleasingly It’s been warming to have been free of bureaucracy and took a welcomed and to know that they matter of weeks from having the trust our skills, experience and kernel of an idea to welcoming the knowledge and are confident in guys on board.” our ability to deliver for them. The guys he refers to are Alex “From a personal point of Watkinson and Alan Hollinshead view, it is also fantastic to have Jones from our Enterprise Plant the opportunity to learn how the Engineering team of experts. supply chain operates, as well as They joined the PaR team in June to work in plants and facilities I 2017. This was initially for a two might not ordinarily.” month period, but has since been For PaR, the next steps are to extended to the end of the year to tender for bigger projects. As the support the project’s expanding European headquarters, this will needs. include projects outside of the UK The secondment agreement and in sunnier climes too. is flexible, which means that if John added: “We fully support they’re not required on a given the vision of West Cumbria as a day, they can drop back on to centre of nuclear excellence, and Sellafield work. There is a simple are committed in doing our part to commercial contract in place for support it. It is excellent to say that payments. Sellafield Ltd is also, proactively Describing the move, Alex and hands on, doing exactly that.” said: “This has been a fantastic The 40 tonne Wharton Hoist opportunity to expand my skills is used to handle nuclear flasks and experience whilst also and is critical to the operation supporting an important local of the laboratory. It is located supply chain partner. Both Alan in the Active Handling Facility and I have been made very which is based on the former welcome at PaR, which means Windscale site. It is owned by us we’ve been able to get stuck right and operated, under commercial in to supporting them on this agreement by the National refurbishment project. Nuclear Laboratory. “This type of project feels like Secondments are just one a sensible way of transforming of the ways we are transforming Sellafield and the supply chain, Sellafield and our relationship with and I am sure it’s something the supply chain. To find out other we’ll be doing a lot more of in the ways of doing business with us, future.” visit www.gov.uk/sellafieldltd Alan added: “This has been a or email supply.chain.enquiries@ positive and enjoyable experience. sellafieldsites.com.Q
39 Innovation Whatever floats
It has broken new ground in becoming the first Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to successfully work in one of the most hazardous environments at Sellafield. But the future prospects for the company behind the Avexis aren’t just in opening up new decommissioning missions, they’re in developing the new ‘nanobubble’ material it’s made of.
obots don’t have grandkids, but if they did it’s a good bet the Avexis (Aqua Vehicle Explorer for RIn-situ Sensing) ROV would be telling them about its maiden voyage through a six-inch hole to take the plunge into the radioactive liquor of Sellafield’s Magnox Swarf Storage Silo. In the world of nuclear decommissioning, the mission to use the Avexis to provide a new pair of eyes inside this legacy storage silo and dislodge and move small items of waste is pioneering stuff. It was manufactured by Cumbrian small to medium-sized enterprise Forth Engineering, but the back story for our silo swimmer involves a five-year journey through research and development. The search for the right machine was It’s an prompted by the challenge that commercially-available off-the-shelf ROVs were simply too big to fit through the six-inch solution where hole which is something of a worldwide standard aperture we have helped size for nuclear facilities from Fukushima to Fort Calhoun. build the shelf. Back in 2012 the University of Manchester were developing a mini ROV for PhD research; the nuclear industry helped them develop it further and pulled in other Government innovation grants. At this
40 Innovation our boat
“It means we can design just how floaty we want an object to be.”
be squeezed into a decanner helped build the shelf.” cave in the First Generation Media interest in the Avexis on the BBC Magnox Storage Pond. and beyond meant that Forth has fielded The machine was then tested enquiries from the nuclear and oil and gas at Forth’s Maryport base, at industries as far afield as China and Australia. which point Forth came up with But it’s not only the Avexis which has exciting plans to really push forward its potential – it’s the extra-buoyant material commercial potential by stripping Forth have built it with: a polymer which down the specifications, making it fit- starts life as a liquid and is then mixed with for-purpose and therefore making the ‘nanobubbles’, which are microscopic glass final product at a lower-priced (ie more particles filled with air. ‘disposable’) bracket. “It means we can design just how floaty TAKING THE “Forth Engineering took the concept, ran we want an object to be,” explains Mark TUBE: The Avexis is stage with it and went on to produce a much more Telford, director of Forth. “If we want a lowered through a six- no-one standard, commercial product which could machine to be completely neutrally buoyant inch aperture into the dreamed the ROV have massive potential around the world,” so it suspends in the water without using any silo liquor below. would be going into the said our innovation manager Xavier Poteau. propulsion then we can do that. We can also Magnox Swarf Storage “It means we can now buy one of these introduce local buoyancy in just some areas Silo. It was envisioned that machines commercially for around £10,000. of a piece of kit.” the slimline machine would It’s an off-the-shelf solution where we’ve Mark can already see the potential in
(cont overleaf) >>
41 Innovation
things like long-reach hand-held tools used Hydro, have been built with buoyancy in mind for manual retrievals and repositioning work by Forth and are already being tested on the in nuclear ponds – a buoyancy-boosted pole Sellafield site for use in the legacy ponds. could help take the strain out of that work. Forth picked up an Innovation award at New Avexis ROV models, the Shark and the the recent CN Group Business Awards for its new nanobubble polymer and Mark is floating on cloud nine about its potential. “The beauty is you produce a piece and can then turn it into whatever shape you want it to be, like carving a block of wood. We can make any object of any size completely neutrally buoyant. It could be a real game changer.” Q GETTING SUSPENDED: The Hydro ROV can hold an exact position in the water. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Extensive trials are carried out before any equipment is deployed in active areas. The search for the right machine was prompted by the challenge that commercially-available ROVs were simply too big to fit through the six-inch hole which is something of a worldwide standard aperture size for nuclear facilities from Fukushima to Fort Calhoun.
42 From our archives
The AVEXIS is our newest robotic recruit, but pioneers at Sellafield have been exploring radiological areas of the site with the help of remotely operated vehicles for decades.
In 1965 the team at Calder Hall deployed their own version of AVEXIS to inspect the inside of one of the station’s reactors. Pictures left to right are: Percy Gill, George Buckley and Bill Robertson. Inserted: the photography equipment used to inspect a reactor vessel.
43 In Focus
IN FOCUS:
EVAPORATOR D
Our new highly active waste evaporator has been a decade in the making. Switching it on took place more than a quarter of a century after our last evaporator was brought into use. In the run up to this point, Ian Curwen went behind the walls and shielded cells of the evaporator to understand why it is such an important asset.
t is a strange feeling to stand in a room that in a matter of weeks will become Ione of the most inhospitable working environments imaginable. Once operational, the temperature, and the acidic, corrosive and highly radioactive nature of the liquid that is treated by the evaporator means that it will be out of bounds. It is likely that no one else will ever stand where I am today. That place is inside Evaporator D, the fourth addition to our fleet of evaporators. Each of them acts like a giant jacketed kettle for liquid waste reducing the volume of our most hazardous waste product by a factor of fifty (for oxide wastes) or 100–150 (for Magnox wastes) – before it is sent on to the vitrification plant to be turned into a solid, stable form, suitable for long term storage and then disposal. Because of the nature of the liquid that runs through the evaporators, corrosion occurs over time, meaning that each evaporator has a limited life. ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET... he team will soon be giving the evaporator Ta full road test, so today is one of my last opportunities to explore. I am stood in one of many cells that will ultimately be operated by people working on the other side of the concrete walls. Cocooned inside a structure of more than Above: Ian Curwen exploring Evaporator D 23,000 tonnes of concrete, water will soon be Right: The module going into the building 44 In Focus
Evaporators
Evaporator Operated 1970-1986 For Magnox waste Not currently A in use
Evaporator Operated 1984-2009, 2014-Present For Magnox waste Throughput of 25–30m3 per B day
Evaporator Operated 1990-Present For Magnox and Thorp wastes Throughput of C 25m3 per day
Evaporator For Magnox and Thorp wastes, Magnox and Thorp clean out and HALES evaporator and storage tanks D clean out The only evaporator that can handle solids Maximum throughput of 90m3 per day
45 In Focus
pushed through the network of 22,000 metres right next to other critical nuclear buildings. As each of the 11 modules made their of pipework that, once active, will allow highly Andy said: “The evaporator facility was a journey to the construction site, a tailor-made radioactive liquor to flow through the plant. modular build, meaning that it was built in parts four-way gantry system – designed, installed The scene reminds me of a cityscape, with at manufacturing hubs across the UK and and operated by experts from Mammoet – row after row of meticulous pipework criss- assembled into 11 large modules in Ellesmere lifted and moved the module into position inside crossing its way, in parallel, from one side of Port, with each module delivered to site by sea the building shell. The modules were then the facility to the other in much the way that the and then connected together in situ.” connected together and the concrete building old 3D pipes Windows screen saver used to. Looking down the site towards the sea I see shell completed around them. Andy North, a project manager, who reminders of the deliveries. Because of the size has been with the evaporator for every step of some of the modules – the biggest standing of the journey, is my tour guide today and 27 metres tall and weighing more than 500 READY, SET, GO... tonnes – a footbridge had to be removed and explained: “The inactive commissioning ith the water tests complete, the team signage and street lights adapted so that they work using water is crucial in testing out the shut down the evaporator, drain the could lay flat on the floor as the modules made W plant and demonstrating our confidence in vessels, sumps and pipework and physically their slow journey up the length of the site. how the facility will operate. It is also the first connect the evaporator to the High Active There are no such reminders on the public opportunity for the operators who will run the Liquor Evaporation and Storage plant next beach as the temporary roadway was installed plant to prove their instructions work and gain door, ready for active commissioning and then experience of running the plant. There is a lot and then removed before and after each module delivery and the temporary bridge operations. to test.” across the river Ehen has been removed and The beginning of the end came in the spit rebuilt. December, when we diverted liquor into our LOCATION, LOCATION, “Those deliveries were quite something,” newest, shiniest evaporator. Andy said. “Each module travelled by road to We’ve now started a period of evaporation LOCATION... Ellesmere Port dockside, contended with the to prove the concept. Once our regulators are Irish Sea – not the calmest of seas in the winter satisfied, we will be granted full Consent to tanding outside of the evaporator building it months – before landing on the beach, crossing Operate, and the evaporator’s journey from Sis astounding to think that a nuclear facility the Ehen spit and then the Cumbria coastal drawing board to operation will be complete. has been created on such a small footprint, and railway line.”
Above: Module on route to construction site Top Right: Barge coming in on the beach Bottom Right: Module taken by road 46 In Focus
THE IMPORTANCE OF EVAPORATION he overall schedule and cost of expertise to bolster our capability TEvaporator D has been rightly through the procurement of long-term The new evaporator has provided us scrutinised. Programme and Project Partners. The lessons that we have learned Ultimately, the new evaporator with the evaporative capability that throughout the project have led to has provided us with the evaporative we need to complete reprocessing improvements that will strengthen our capability that we need to complete project management capability. This reprocessing in Thorp and Magnox, in Thorp and Magnox, but more includes the foundation of our project but more importantly, will ensure we delivery directorate, and, in September can clean out the reprocessing plants importantly, will ensure we can clean last year the first cohort of project and our old evaporators and storage out the reprocessing plants and our management apprentices completed tanks. their training at our Project Academy. Without this, we couldn’t deliver old evaporators and storage tanks. We are also seeking private sector our mission. Q
47 Building the evaporator
2. Foundation level
1. Groundworks 3. Next construction level 4. Crane installation
5. Installation of rig 6. Bendalls producing cooling coils for evaporators
7. Module being taken by road
8. Module being taken by sea
48 In Focus
9. Beach landing at Sellafield 10. Module going over River Ehen
11. Module on site going past Thorp
12. Module at Evap D building
14. Module going into building 16. New building external
13. Module upright
15. Inside Evap D
49 Gary McKeating interview
Meet the new Head of Community relations
Gary McKeating is no stranger to Sellafield, the nuclear industry or West Cumbria. His new role as head of community relations sees him continue his passion of securing social and economic benefit from the nuclear industry for our communities. As part of his remit he has also taken on responsibility for our social impact programme. A few weeks into this role, how does he believe we can enhance our relationship with the community and help to drive growth in our local economies through our social impact activity?
y role at Sellafield as head of and with many different aspirations. a more strategic approach to how we community relations is to secure the Part of my role is to listen to our invest our social impact fund. How can we Mbest possible social and economic stakeholders, to understand their concerns, spend money today that will create jobs or benefit for our communities from all of the interests, pressures and commitments and improve the local skills base in the future investment made into our organisation, to see how we or the wider Sellafield system and importantly how do we measure our unlocking additional social value from our might be able to help. We all want the same investments? supply chain and working with our partners thing – the best possible future for our Equally, there are opportunities to help and stakeholders to direct our resources and communities. community groups today – whether that is assets to secure maximum impact. I wish to donating a raffle prize that will raise funds see a step-change in our approach and our Supporting the community. for a good cause, or contributing towards impact. That’s what I intend to do and what There is a wealth of what I call ‘silent the cost of refurbishing a community centre. our communities rightly deserve. support’ that we and our supply chain have Every request for support is assessed on We also distribute funding on behalf of given to the community that isn’t as visible its own merits, but we can’t say yes to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. as a cheque presentation or ground cutting. everything. Historically the role of socio-economics at Sometimes a project might need access to Sellafield has focused on distributing a pot project management skills or other resource. Future opportunities. of money, responding to charity requests Projects and charities don’t always want The opportunities for our local and taking a lead role in deciding how our a cheque; they may want help pulling a communities could be considerable. social impact investment should be spent. business case together. Across our business There are organisations that are already As we move into a new era for Sellafield and and supply chain we have those skills and we making a new future for themselves, a challenging external political and economic and increasingly our supply chain are happy exporting technologies that have been environment I’m looking for a step change to share them. Supply chain companies are created for use at Sellafield to new customers from us and our supply chain. working together on common goals and it’s around the world. They are creating a refreshing to see companies put aside their future where they can thrive whether they Relationships require work. natural competitive approach to work with are working at Sellafield or not. Part of my Professional relationships take effort, other companies on social impact in our challenge is using these examples – to prove respect and commitment. I have immense communities. that you can create a sustainable business respect for the stakeholders in our There are real issues in our economy and in the nuclear and broader decommissioning communities, from council officials and communities that need to be addressed if and engineering sector in West Cumbria politicians to community activists and West Cumbria is to achieve the future that – and to promote the area as a centre of volunteers. It’s a challenging world to work in is on offer. That inevitably means taking nuclear excellence.
50 Gary McKeating interview
“Part of my role is to listen to our stakeholders, to understand their concerns, interests, pressures and commitments and to see how we or the wider Sellafield system might be able to help.”
Sometimes you have to The juxtaposition of look back in order to have industry and outstanding Gary’s favourite confidence in the promise natural beauty sets our of tomorrow. area apart. things You can see the positive impact of the Our offer in this area is unique. Cutting nuclear industry across our communities. edge science and technology sits alongside FAVOURITE FILM: In West Cumbria major landmarks like the natural beauty. When I’m not at work you CITY SLICKERS Westlakes Science and Technology Park, will often find me out and about taking the redeveloped Whitehaven marina and photographs of our rugged coast. As FAVOURITE FOOD: the Port of Workington; education facilities a Rugby Football League accredited TATIE POT like Lakes College, the Construction photographer you might also spot me on FAVOURITE HOLIDAY Skills Centre, and the National College for the sidelines of our local sports grounds. Nuclear, were all supported by the industry. DESTINATION: A decade ago we invested in the West NORTHUMBERLAND Lakes Academy, creating a school that FAVOURITE MUSICIAN: would go on to achieve ‘outstanding’ status Gary talks us through our DAVID BOWIE by Ofsted. Even our own corporate centre, new social impact strategy. Albion Square, is in a new build in the heart of Whitehaven. >>
51 Social Impact Strategy Social impact
As we prepare to publish RESILIENT ECONOMIES THRIVING COMMUNITIES our social impact strategy, Social impact objective: Social impact objective: Gary gives us an overview To enable inclusive growth in the To assist our communities to thrive by of its five strategic objectives capacity, diversity and capability of the supporting sustainable activities which and how, collectively, economies in which we serve. create self-reliance and independence. everyone involved in the Gary explained: “Success against Gary said: “We want to encourage this objective would see us and our communities that are impacted by our work Sellafield mission can supply chain colleagues proactively to engage in social impact programmes and provide significant and engaging small and medium sized training opportunities. We have a collective enterprises, charities and social pool of resources and skills that can add measurable socio-economic enterprises. Longer term contracts more value to social impact programmes growth to all of our with smaller organisations leads to than money alone. One of our challenges stability of turnover and allows for is making sure that community groups and stakeholders in return for growth and diversification beyond organisations know about the resources their investment in our work work at Sellafield. potentially available to them. “Wouldn’t it be great to see “We also need to work closely with our on the site. a fresh generation of innovative supply chain colleagues to co-ordinate start-up companies emerging in our efforts to deliver the maximum positive our communities who see potential impact and with our stakeholders so that e and our partners can create customers around the world?” they are involved in setting the investment positive change. As always, priorities and decision making.” Wour first priority at Sellafield is the safety and security of the site, our employees and nuclear materials. Our focus on mission delivery is unrelenting. We are transforming our organisation, seeking to accelerate the delivery of our mission while also providing excellent value for money to the taxpayer. As part of this change we are determined to deliver the maximum social impact from the money we spend directly and with the supply chain. Our five strategic objectives focus on resilient economies, thriving communities, social value chains, sustainable incomes, and collective impact.
52 Social Impact Strategy strategy
SOCIAL VALUE CHAINS SUSTAINABLE INCOMES COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Social impact objective: Social impact objective: Social impact objective: To create a wide-reaching positive social To improve access to sustainable incomes, To leverage collective impact and impact with our supply chain. beyond Sellafield, by increasing skills, investment by engaging and working knowledge, aspirations and access to with our stakeholders, partners and Gary said: “We will recognise and opportunities. communities. promote high performance in social impact by our supply chain partners Gary explained: “We want people in Gary explained: “The clue is in the because we know that our collective our communities to have access to a title with this objective – we want to efforts could reap massive benefit to our good income and are looking at how a work collectively to design realistic and communities. I am excited to see how programme of high impact education, skills, measurable social impact interventions.” global thought leadership and innovation personal development and employability from our supply chain can help provide support activities could help. This of course new solutions to local social, means continuing our collective support to The full Social Impact environmental and economic issues.” apprenticeship training but it also means Strategy will be published on engaging with education and employability www.gov.uk/sellafieldltd providers and promoting wider career in early 2018. choices and opportunities in and outside of nuclear.”
53 LINC with Sellafield LINC with Sellafield
54 LINC with Sellafield
We spend more than half of our annual £2 billion budget with the supply chain, bringing some of the biggest names in engineering, construction and decommissioning to work on the Sellafield site in West Cumbria. The scale of our commercial opportunities and the legal procurement processes we are bound by can be daunting to smaller organisations. A new scheme to encourage small and medium sized enterprises at a local and national level was launched in autumn 2017 and has already opened the door to work at Sellafield.
mall and medium sized enterprises “I understand the frustrations that SMEs This international standard by the – or SMEs as they are known – bring have because I have been there. My role International Organisation for Standardisation Sinnovation and expertise to the isn’t about removing processes and working seeks to improve business relationships projects they work on. Their size – typically around legal frameworks. I am here to help around the world. It is based on BS 11000 fewer than 250 employees – also means that businesses that have something to offer our and helps business partners maximise the they offer agility and flexibility. mission at Sellafield to navigate the system value of collaborative working: and to put their best foot forward. Our new The Government has recognised the value • operational awareness LINC programme is just one of the ways that that SMEs bring to organisations and to the • knowledge we are doing that.” UK economy and • internal assessment has set targets to LINC with Sellafield LINC was • partner selection encourage their If you are a small to medium sized launched in • working together departments September 2017 • value creation and arms-length enterprise (defined as a company that has fewer than 250 employees; and is designed • staying together bodies to use to encourage • exit strategy implementation them. As a and has either (a) an annual turnover SMEs at local and Collaboration is a key enabler in the creation publicly funded not exceeding £50 million or national level to and unlocking of significant value with our organisation (b) an annual balance sheet total not collaborate with supply chain, and as such we are committed and subsidiary each other and exceeding £43 million.) register today. to achieving accreditation to the new of the Nuclear deliver innovative Decommissioning Visit www.gov.uk/sellafieldltd and standard by 28 September 2018. click on the ‘how to do business with solutions to Authority we have the mission at Emma-Jayne said: “Through the LINC a role to play us’ link on the top right of the page. Sellafield. scheme we asked SMEs to get their heads in meeting that You will find a registration form which together and propose how we could identify Emma-Jayne target. should be completed and emailed any gaps against the standard, how the added: “Our standard could initially be rolled out in a “But getting work to [email protected] as well colleagues pilot area of the business and then ultimately at Sellafield isn’t as a list of registered companies and at Dounreay rolled out across the whole business. easy for smaller details of challenges open launched their own organisations,” for submission. LINC scheme in “We received five submissions in total and says Emma-Jayne August 2017 and were really impressed by the standard of Gooch, our head have found it really those proposals. A panel assessed the of supply chain development and innovation. opened the door for smaller businesses.” proposals four days after the closing date “The process, the paperwork and the and announced the successful SMEs just Work packages that set out some of the regulations – all of which are legally required two days later. That is a speed of turnaround challenges we are addressing at Sellafield – can be overwhelming.” never experienced before by Sellafield.” Q are published on our website and SMEs who Emma-Jayne speaks from personal have registered on the LINC programme are experience as, prior to joining our encouraged to work together and submit organisation in 2017, she ran an SME in proposals on how they could help to meet the All opportunities issued via Cumbria, recruiting for the nuclear industry. challenge described. LINC will have a maximum value of £150,000. No contracts Emma-Jayne added: “Collaboration that follow any opportunity with another SME isn’t essential, but it is advertised via LINC will be something that we strongly encourage. awarded in excess of this threshold. Any opportunities The first opportunity published in the LINC valued at more than £150,000 scheme was a call for proposals on how we will be made available could achieve accreditation to ISO 44001, through our Complete Tender ‘collaborative business relationship Management system and management systems’. published on the Official Journal of the European Union.
55 Gary McKee interview Running man In October 2017 Gary McKee was awarded Freedom of the Borough by Mayor of Copeland, Mike Starkie. Contrary to popular opinion, this freedom doesn’t allow Gary to drive sheep down Whitehaven’s main streets, but it is the highest honour that a community can bestow on a resident and reflects his commitment to a cause close to his heart. I sat down with him to talk about physical challenges, balancing charity work and a career, and motivating others.
56 Gary McKee interview
INTERVIEW
BY FIONA GREGG
ith a Kilimanjaro trek, 100 You were awarded the I can vouch for that – one of marathons in 100 days, and a beer Freedom of the Borough in my team regularly quotes your W named in his honour, manufacturing Copeland, picked up a prize mantra of ‘just keep putting team leader, Gary McKee, has raised thousands of pounds for Macmillan Cancer at the North West Pride one foot in front of the other’. Support since his father passed away in 2003 Awards and went on to the I am glad that it has struck a chord with having been a survivor of the disease. His televised National Pride of people. It really can get you through a tough day, week or couple of months. In terms of advice for facing challenges in life; just keep Britain Awards. What has been putting one foot in front of the other. physical challenges, I want people to believe if your biggest ‘pinch myself’ Gary McKee can do it so can I. You have completed 100 moment? As a local lad, it was an honour to receive Are you hanging up your marathons in 100 successive the Freedom of the Borough and running shoes now? days, Climbed Kilimanjaro and it was really strange to be in Not even close! Fred Whitton was an ambassador for are already planning your next the same room as all of GARY’S the celebrities at the Macmillan and it is 20 challenge, so my first question FUNDRAISING has to be: Why? National Pride of years since he died Britain Awards. HIGHLIGHTS so, I am going to run My father passed in 2003 and I remember There are a Ran from Lands’ End to John O’Groats the Fred Whitton how I felt when we were told he had cancer lot of people challenge in 24 so my main motivation is to raise funds for Ran from his home in Cleator Moor to behind my hours. I will have Macmillan Cancer Support knowing that every London to take part in the London Marathon success and to complete the day families will be told the devastating news even though Ran the Coast 2 Coast route from Seaton 110 mile cycle race just like we were. I get the Carew to Whitehaven – 116 miles in 24 hours through the Lake Your marathon challenge plaudits they Carried the Olympic torch through Whitehaven District, starting raised more than £100,000, know who town centre as part of its journey to and finishing in they are and London in 2012 Ennerdale, including you must be thrilled? how much they over 10,000 feet of It was incredible and I want to thank mean to me. I Inspiring other people – a friend assent/descent up shaved her head and raised everyone for their donations. As well as the am forever grateful and down the Lakeland £5,000 for MacMillan money raised my best memory from the for the support my passes. challenge is from Easter Sunday when 130 local community and the people turned up and ran with me. The people Sellafield community who turned up to run with me usually only gives me. run 6 miles but they stayed with me for half a marathon and then went to do a full shift at You recently spoke at our work. Having the ability to encourage others is annual business awards event, one of my biggest achievements to date. how does that compare to your Gary’s favourite I try to think of challenges that will grab people’s attention to gain their support but other challenges? things I am equally happy to organise a cake sale It wasn’t something that I could really because every penny really does count. train for but I think it went well! It meant that FAVOURITE BOOK: I could talk to people about the great work FEET IN THE CLOUDS BY RICHARD You completed that challenge that Macmillan Cancer Support do, what the ASKWITH WAS SENT TO ME BY THE while working full time for us charity means to me and why I will support AUTHOR AND SINCE READING IT WE HAVE at Sellafield. How did you fit them for as long as I can. If even one person BECOME FRIENDS. IT IS VERY INSPIRING was either inspired to support the charity, or SO I HAVE READ IT SEVERAL TIMES. everything in? learned that the charity is there if they should I am a manufacturing team leader working ever need their support, then it was worth any FAVOURITE FOOD: on dismantling fuel from the UK fleet of nerves or discomfort. I am not a professional FILLET STEAK, BUT IF I AM IN TRAINING Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor for long speaker but after the response watch this THEN I’LL GO FOR ANY CARB THAT I CAN term storage on behalf of our customer EDF space, and of course my fee would go to BULK UP WITH. Energy. During this challenge I was working Macmillan Cancer Support. more in a supporting role. FAVOURITE PLACE: Since the event I have been contacted by SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. Generally when I have a challenge planned I people I don’t know, have never met, but who use annual leave, credit time and work around heard me talk and wanted to let me know how FAVOURITE SONG: my shifts and my wife Susan’s shifts. Thankfully I had inspired them. That is really rewarding. PROUD BY M PEOPLE – THE LYRICS ASK A our families provide support with childcare. GREAT QUESTION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY TO MAKE YOU FEEL PROUD?
57 Mental health awareness
IT’S GOOD
TOSlips, trips and falls TALKare one of the biggest causes of work- related injuries on our construction projects across the Sellafield site. But there is another work-related illness that isn’t always as obvious – mental health. We have extended our collaboration with the supply chain beyond on-site delivery, working together to raise awareness of mental health and where people can go for help and support.
58 Mental health awareness
orking with heavy machinery, supply chain colleagues at an event at awareness and foster an open culture at height, on congested Sellafield in November aimed at raising where our employees feel able to talk Wconstruction sites, outdoors in awareness of the signs of mental health about their mental health without feeling all weathers; working on a construction issues and ensuring that people who are they will be judged.” project isn’t for everyone and carries suffering know that they can speak openly. The event included an interactive with it the potential for physical injury. Balfour Beatty sponsored the event. session by Dramanon, a professional Slips, trips and falls can lead to twisted Nuclear director for Balfour Beatty, Iain acting group that recreates the or broken bones. Such experiences of someone injuries are easy to spot with mental health issues and to relate to. in order to generate A change in In a world where 42 per cent of UK discussion. someone’s behaviour, Professional rugby signs of stress, pressure construction workers are likely to league players, Danny and anxiety aren’t Sculthorpe and Jimmy as easy to spot but experience mental health issues, we are Gittins, also shared could be the result of their own personal another cause of work- experiences of dealing related illness in the committed to creating a business with with mental health issues. construction industry; Speaking after the mental health issues. mental health and wellbeing its heart. event, our head of According to Health environment, health, safety and Safety Executive and quality for projects, figures, 18 per cent of reported work- Wilson, said: “In a country where 42% Mark Sarrington, said: “I am thrilled by the related illnesses in the UK construction of construction workers are likely to attendance and interactions that I saw. If industry are the result of mental health experience mental health issues, we are only one person feels that they are able to problems, accounting for 400,000 committed to creating a business with get help, or now know where to go to get working days lost each year. mental health and wellbeing its heart. that help, as a result of this event then it We were delighted to stand with our “Events like the one at Sellafield raise was worth every minute.” Q
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
59 Reays Coaches
On the buses
With thousands of people accessing umbria-based Reays Coaches are It isn’t just passenger numbers that no strangers to our site transport are growing; the company itself is Sellafield every day and night, and Cchallenges. They provide a shuttle- expanding with new employees and a a growing pressure to remove cars bus service for people who work on site and West Cumbrian base. use the park-and-ride service to and from The family business started as a one man from the site and make room for new our main off-site car park as well as a regular outfit in 1980 when founder Walter Reay nuclear facilities that are vital to the service around the site itself and between the started running a mini-bus to take the darts site and our satellite offices in Whitehaven. team from his local pub in Fletchertown to clean-up of the site, our transport They also recently won a four-year away fixtures. Today the company employs infrastructure has never been more contract to transport our employees between 160 people and operates more than 90 our West Cumbria and Warrington offices. vehicles making it one of the largest fleets of important. Central to this is our supply When they started working with us in 2010, private hire coaches in the north of England. chain partner, Reays Coaches, who the Reays team was transporting around Managing director, Chris Reay, said: “We 12,000 Sellafield passengers every month. have seen a massive increase in business have won a contract to provide site Improvements to the service and a growing in West Cumbria since securing our first transport for another four years and pressure to reduce the number of cars on the contract with Sellafield. We knew from nuclear site have seen this figure rocket to the start that having a base in the area are going from strength-to-strength. 40,000 passengers every month. was important and so opened a depot in
60 Reays Coaches REAYS HAVE…
A FLEET OF 160 90 40,000 EMPLOYEES VEHICLES FROM PASSENGERS A MONTH BUSES TO VANS FROM THE SELLAFIELD SERVICES ALONE
Egremont with a team of 25 people. We are “As we continue to grow we are constantly already looking for larger premises in the on the lookout for local people to become As well as providing shuttle town and plan to double the size of the team qualified, locally-based drivers with us, bus and coach services for by the end of 2019.” whether they are part-time, full-time, working Growing the team will include an ongoing on a school run or international travel, and us, Reays also offer a vehicle commitment to apprenticeships. Chris help us to create a hub in the community explained: “We take a ‘grow your own’ where we can offer our services.” hire service and currently approach to recruitment and currently have “We hire our drivers based on their have around 70 vans being four apprentices in a variety of roles in the personality then train them to our high business. The team support apprentices standards. We want passengers to have the used by contractors on the through their studies and help them to grow best experience possible from the moment new skills for the future. they step foot onto the coach.” Sellafield site.
61 62 Making progress T achieve this milestone by spring 2018. byspring milestone this achieve to We expect nearby. buildings sensitive toany on fall not could it height this at is it when falling stack ofthe event unlikely the In of47 metres. toaheight down brought been has it when removed safely. completed is work to ensure work preparatory extensive undertaken We’ve compromised. be will stack ofthe stability the as risk the increase section. next tothe access lower, toallow metre a moved and unclipped is platform the completed, is work As stack. the hugs chimney via a that self-climbing platform the access Workers byhand. and byundertaken both specialist machinery 2020. spring in target this tohit We expect stack. 61 metre the on started has work demolition topress, went Magazine removed. be must and standards safety Sellafield. at Plant Separation Primary former ofthe top on stack the to demolish 9 METRES. FINAL TARGET HEIGHT OF METRE INHEIGHT WITHA BYREDUCING A AROUND WEEKTHE STACKEACH IS The risk posed by the stack will be be will stack bythe posed risk The willtemporarily work demolition The is work canopy, aroof Below ofSellafield issue last the Since The stack doesn’t meet modern
certainly the case for the project project the for case the certainly down’, come that’s and must he saying is that ‘what goes up STACKS OF PROGRESS
Countdown The Final Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant – or Thorp as it is better known. better is it as Thorp –or Plant Reprocessing Oxide Thermal the and plant reprocessing Magnox the fuel; ofnuclear types different materials. waste from plutonium and uranium to separate processes chemical using and fuel the weapons programme. UK’s the for atomic needed plutonium the to capture order in reprocessed was reactors Windscale the from fuel operations, site’s ofthe early part As reprocessing missionat Sellafield. We are closeto completing our There are two buildings at Sellafield that are dedicated to reprocessing to reprocessing dedicated are that atSellafield buildings two are There dissolving fuel, from cover outer the bystripping reprocessed is fuel Used the since 1950s. atSellafield fuel nuclear used reprocessing We been have
Tonnes to go: reprocessing Magnox fund our risk and hazard reduction mission. reduction hazard and risk our fund to help used is reprocessing Magnox and Thorp both from Revenue UK. the in earner height of its operations, was the biggest Yen atthe and, customers overseas and UK both from fuel Oxide reprocesses Thorp reprocessing Thorp generating programme. electricity to their support a critical been has programme agreed an with line in stations the from fuel to the take Magnox reprocessing facility. Our ability the in reprocessed is Hall, Calder own our including reactors, Magnox UK’s of the fleet from fuel Used reprocessed. be to fuel Reactor Water Light of 127 tonnes and fuel Reactor Gas-cooled Advanced of tonnes 363 are there 2018, 18 of as January programme. operating Magnox the of closure until reprocessed be to fuel Magnox of tonnes 1,301 are there 2018, 18 of as January Tonnes togo: 1,301 450
Reskilling and redeploying RIGHTTHE SKILLS IN THE RIGHT PLACES
Making sure you have e are moving on from our proud reprocessing history and becoming people with the right skills Wan organisation focused on in the right places at the environmental remediation and we know that our people are at the heart of those changes. right time is challenging Everyone has a part to play and our focus for any company. But the is on reskilling and redeploying our current employees to get the right combination of skills stakes are particularly high and roles that will transform our business. when it’s an internationally This not only allows us to accelerate our high hazard mission but it will also help to important nuclear maintain sustainable employment in West company going through Cumbria and Warrington. With less than 18 months until the end of reprocessing within significant change. Our Thorp, we have started the work to redeploy people are at the heart of and reskill these employees to support other areas of the business. We have also redeployed our changes and we are people from all over the business to project already seeing them take management, construction, risk and pre- operations and commissioning areas, where up the next phase of their there is a sustained demand for these skill sets. Sellafield careers. As a result, we’ve seen a lot of interest from our people as they begin a new phase in their Sellafield lives. Here’s a snapshot of where it’s already happened. >
63 Reskilling and redeploying > Meet the people
GRAHAM FALCON PRE-OPERATIONS TEAM MEMBER SELLAFIELD LTD
ANDY FIRTH raham Falcon joined Sellafield at the start of something. TEAM MANAGER FOR 15 years ago to work on the “We all know that Sellafield is THE MEASUREMENT AND GSellafield MOX Plant. After 15 changing. Buildings are coming to the end years on shifts, he is getting used to some of their lifecycles so all the change that ANALYSIS TEAM big changes as part of the pre-operations has been talked about is becoming real. NATIONAL NUCLEAR team at our Box Encapsulation Plant. “Plants are closing and there will be LABORATORY “When the Box Encapsulation Plant lots of us who are going to end up doing opportunities came up it felt like it was the different things. The reason I came to right thing for me. It’s completely different Sellafield in the first place was because to anything I’ve done before but I think the company I used to work for closed ndy joined Sellafield as a that’s what I needed – a complete change. down. That’s what happens. graduate trainee and has “It has given me the chance to get “I would rather have a choice and Aworked in variety of roles over new skills and experiences. And I’m doing have some options about what I’m going the last 8 years. In 2017, he left to join that with other people who are in a similar to do rather than wait until I’m told that the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL). position to me. It’s also a chance to be in I have to move.” “When I saw the role advertised I was interested. NNL and Sellafield are working in partnership and I had been involved in joint projects in the past. “When NNL offered me the job I took a couple of weeks to consider what I wanted to do. It was a big decision as I obviously had to resign from my role at Sellafield to join NNL. “I had really enjoyed my role at Sellafield and had a lot of responsibility RAY JONES in the company. Yet I felt the opportunity to continue to develop EQUIPMENT ENGINEER and learn was too good to miss. In the SELLAFIELD LTD end it made the decision a relatively straightforward one. “After being in my new role for just a week, I knew I had made the correct choice. “The role is very similar in that I am involved in sample analysis for customers however the work is ay has been at Sellafield for almost past adventures as a pilot and maintainer non-routine analysis. In my role at 25 years. He worked in Thorp, first of remotely operated vehicles with Sub Sellafield’s Analytical Services, all helping to commission the control Sea Surveys (latterly British Underwater R my customers were internal whereas system software and then as a controls Engineering) were noted. As a result I was now I work for an array of different and technical advisor. invited to assist with the remote operated NNL customers based in the UK and “With my time at Thorp I had the chance vehicles programme in Legacy Ponds, so abroad. to see it from different perspectives, first in I am making the move into a new post “I enjoyed working for Sellafield and commissioning and then from an operating with Enterprise Plant Engineering. gained lots of friends but have found and maintenance perspective. “I am looking forward to my new role, exactly the same at NNL.” “Fast forward to 2017, and we are look- taking on a new challenge and meeting ing toward the end of reprocessing. As new colleagues.” part of the redeployment discussions my
64 Reskilling and redeploying
hris joined Sellafield to work in Thorp but has recently moved to be a technical CATHERINE JACKSON Cfunctional adviser in the Box Encapsulation PRE OPERATIONS Plant (BEP). “For the past five years I worked in operations TEAM MEMBER support in Thorp but in December 2016 I applied SELLAFIELD LTD for opportunities in BEP commissioning and pre-operations. “We have been told what the end of reprocessing means and I decided that I wanted atherine moved out of to get in at the beginning of something new. Magnox reprocessing “I’m using the skills and experience I already Cto begin a new role CHRIS VAN DER LEE had but there’s a lot to learn about the new plant in pre-operations for the Box Encapsulation Plant Product TECHNICAL FUNCTIONAL so we can produce documentation to be able to run it. We are doing this as the plant is going in Store (BEPPS). ADVISER so we can see how it all works together, which is “I knew that working on SELLAFIELD LTD great – we get to grow with it.” reprocessing meant that my role was going to end within Magnox – I wanted to take control of the next phase of my career. I thought that if I went to pre- operations for BEPPS, im joined Sellafield 15 years ago, first as an I could use the experience electrician, then in manufacturing support I had with pre-ops in the past Jbefore taking on responsibilities for integrated but on a completely new facility. works management. Jim’s latest role sees him “In the end, the decision working on the Sellafield Product and Residues about taking the new role was Store Retreatment Plant as a senior construction about whether I was happy coordinator. coming off shifts. I spoke with “I had been in my last job for seven years and my manager and decided that I was looking for something new. With that in mind I wanted to be in with the new I applied to be a senior construction coordinator. plant from the start. In a few “Since moving to the project directorate I’ve had years I’ll be able to say I was a very positive experience. I am enjoying dealing there when it was concrete and JIM HUGHES with multiple stakeholders and working with a team empty and you could walk into it. that is focused on delivering the project goals. SENIOR CONSTRUCTION I wouldn’t have been able to say Every day is a challenge but it is really interesting. that if I had stayed where I was. COORDINATOR “I am constantly on the move, undertaking the “To anyone thinking of doing day job and the training associated with my new role, SELLAFIELD LTD it, I’d say just do it – it is just a but I can honestly say that I am relishing the work.” move within the same company and you know what it’s like to work here already. “I enjoy working at Sellafield. In the 10 years I’ve been here I’ve arbara has taken on 11 people as a result had six jobs so I’m constantly of redeployment and transition. learning and taking on new B “Box Encapsulation Plant commissioning challenges. This role is the latest and pre operations are really important for our opportunity I’ve had to do that.” mission. They will allow us to treat and store in a single place waste that is currently in different parts of the site. “When we advertised the opportunities I wasn’t sure what interest we would have but 110 people applied and we have selected 58 people to join us. Everyone identified has the right skills we need and, just as importantly, the right attitude. BARBARA KINRADE “In total we had around 30 people join us in 2017, more people joining this year and the last few HEAD OF OPERATIONS AT joining in April 2019. BOX ENCAPSULATION PLANT “Half of the people are from Thorp, which you might expect considering the timescale for the end SELLAFIELD LTD of reprocessing but the other half are from across the site.”
65 Unsung heroes
SELLAFIELD WATER TREATMENT PLANT TEAM Est. 1997 INACTIVE TANK FARM TEAMS Est. 1985
66 Unsung heroes
:KHQ\RXWKLQNRIEXLOGLQJVDW6HOOD¿HOG you might automatically think of our more famous nuclear landmarks, like Calder Hall or Thorp, but without facilities Water Treatment Plant and Inactive Tank Farm, our nuclear plants couldn’t work.
he Water Treatment Plant and Inactive Tank Farm are an important part of TSellafield’s infrastructure. Whilst they aren’t what we would class as nuclear facilities, without them many of our nuclear processes and operations would come to a halt. Without the Water Treatment Plant we wouldn’t have suitable quality demineralised water for steam production and plant processes. It also takes water from Wastwater, boreholes, mines and the River Calder and treats it to produce the demineralised water that we need to keep used nuclear fuel cool in our storage ponds. The teams working in the Inactive Tank Farm receive, store and distribute chemicals that are needed for many of our plants across the site. Dan Rooney, deputy operations manager, explains: “These two facilities seem relatively low key compared to the bigger operational plants on site, but they are part of the site’s jigsaw that enables plants to operate effectively. “Our teams come to work, get on with their day job and probably don’t consider the massive contribution that they are making to keep THESE TWO FACILITIES Sellafield working safely.”Q SEEM RELATIVELY LOW KEY COMPARED TO THE BIGGER OPERATIONAL PLANTS ON SITE, BUT THEY ARE PART OF THE SITE’S JIGSAW THAT ENABLES PLANTS TO OPERATE EFFECTIVELY.
67 INTERVIEW
BY STEVE BARNES
68 Duncan Thompson T beautiful of parts the world. change andthe benefits of inone living of the most progress at Sellafield, the success ourmodel of director perspective to ourBoard asa the world, world, the private sector, not to mention afew countries around With acareer that already spans the public and management task of this magnitude. So he set posed by an engineering, environmental and challenge professional bythe attracted was and airports.” in time less and them with time more to spend Iwanted age school secondary approached mychildren as but fun, great was It clients. level Board demanding with world the round all sectors gas and oil and power rail, the in ofprojects variety areal managing in experience great me gave it and age young atarelatively role, this in delivery and selling for D.Arthur Little. firm consultancy management and engineering the with stint year byasix followed was This GKN. and Transco, Railtrack Grid National as engineering programmes for companies such environmental ofmulti-site delivery the leading years three spent and Engineering GeoDelf years. four for there living Zimbabwe, in large water supply development programmes several led he where UNICEF for and engineer aproduction as Company Motor Ford for and water engineering. soil in aMaster’sdegree to on gain went and engineering mechanical studied 1986. then He in Exchange Stock London atthe starting career, varied and he’s interesting an had NDA. ofthe subsidiary owned wholly 2016 in a to company become ofour formation and programme change model the led having site, Sellafield the remediating securely and ofsafely mission important nationally the globe. the across and management experience from businesses ofengineering awealth –brings Thompson Duncan saw the NDA being set up in 2005 2005 in up set NDA being the saw Duncan ofresponsibility alot had “I said: Duncan joined and to UK the returned 30, he Aged worked he studies, his following and During position key strategic atthis arriving Before Within NDA, Duncan is accountable for Sellafield ProgrammeDirector Duncan Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) he latest addition to the Board – Nuclear . We sat down with him to talk about Duncan Thompson Duncan to get the job done; we have agreater, we have done; job the to get need the recognise We all issues. challenging common motivation to address long term, with organisations, two the between alignment strong created and Ltd Sellafield NDA and between boundary contractual the removed successful? was 2016 in NDA the of asubsidiary to sector private delivered on site.” work ofthe to value the addition in spend, that huge socio-economic and growth potential in is there and atSellafield ayear £2bn spend We atSellafield. experience and skills valuable ofthe use future making for and sooner site asafer delivering for both optimism, and energy Ihave model. new the within progress real delivering is that Board ofthe part be now to I’mand delighted atSellafield changes about 2013, to bring hard worked Ihave Sellafield Ltd Board Duncan said: offers.” District Lake the that ofall most the make we and Sellafield match that challenges few are there move, professionally right the definitely Itwas location. to anew my family moving and cut apay taking Iwas organisation; agovernment for worked Ihadn’t as change the Sellafield model change programme. of implementation the to lead time full moving before Officer Executive to Chief the advisor senior and development ofstrategy head the was he Latterly Government. with interface change programme, then managed their NDA’s to on run moved organisational he early hasn’t looked back. he and family his with to Cumbria moved and NDA the with ajob took Duncan Cambridge, plans. lifetime 2006 the NDA reviewing with work won and A.D. Little for Cockermouth in office consulting asmall up Does he think that our transfer from from transfer our that think he Does the to appointment his Regarding “Joining abig NDA was said: the He NDA’s the team, in audit Starting internal from commuting ofweekly ayear After non-executive is bringing a new anew isbringing He said: “We have have “We said: He Non-executive director “Since “Since > 69 Non-executive director
shared risk appetite and an ambitious and Key future challenges, according to capable leadership team. Very importantly, Duncan, include: “being recognised as we made this significant change without any delivering real value on the non-discretionary deterioration in delivery and safety performance.” streams of work – high hazard retrievals and treatment, spent fuel management and special How well does he think we are nuclear materials management, so that we delivering at Sellafield? He said: “In the will continue to be funded to finish the job of legacy ponds and silos we are on the cusp decommissioning and site remediation. of moving from the historical position where “By delivering value, we need to earn the these posed a real technical conundrum, to a right to tackle that long term decommissioning position of knowing how we will do it, making and remediation work sooner and get the first retrievals and then optimising a long period job finished, thereby delivering value for the of retrieval and treatment operations.” taxpayer while maintaining capability and Other successes since model change employment for several decades to come.” include: • Strong leadership, ambitious for delivery Aside from all that a senior and for change management role entails, Duncan enjoys • Stability in the project portfolio getting out and seeing the great work that is being done on plant. He said: “I love • Greater reliability of underlying infrastructure engineering problems and neat solutions, I’m as a result of long term focus and significant a keen mechanic and builder myself and make investments time to get out and talk to the people that are • Progressive and enabling approach to doing the actual work – after all it’s that real nuclear materials management work that is of most value – and we mustn’t • Spent fuel management delivering lose sight of that.” Q planned Thorp and Magnox reprocessing closure dates.
70 Infinity Festival 2017 SELMAG8_02 to Infinity and beyond
We joined a stellar line-up of international superstars to inspire Cumbrian students to take up a career in science and engineering at the 2017 Infinity Festival. Professor Brian Cox was the biggest name on the bill, but our own business and scientific superstars were on hand to help inspire the next generation.
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uest stars, including BBC Summer School. We were so inspired by of these opportunities. We believe the broadcaster, Professor the levels of enthusiasm that we decided to whole community of Cumbria needs to Brian Cox, gave motivating hold a similar event in Cumbria. encourage and support young people to talks, exciting hands-on “Our research has shown that the be inspired to become the next generation experiments and workshops event has not only built confidence but of world-class scientists and engineers and Gto more than 200 Cumbrian students has enabled 50% of pupils, many on free to be supported to study, and succeed, in aged 13-14 at the 2017 Infinity Festival. school meals, to gain places at Russell gaining the necessary qualifications.” The event, held at West Lakes Academy Group Universities. In addition, around 50% The festival has been created by The in Egremont, was designed to inspire the have gone on to study STEM subjects.” University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear students to become the next generation of Pete Woolaghan, Chair of the festival Institute, working closely with the REACT scientists and engineers. organising group, said: “This is the first Foundation and supported by industry and The festival was hosted in partnership festival of its kind to be held outside academia including: Sellafield Ltd, NuGen, with the Science Summer School, an London and it’s an amazing opportunity NNL, NDA, UCLAN, the University of annual event held in London. Co-founder, for Cumbria’s young people. The energy Cumbria and West Lakes Academy, plus the Lord Andrew Mawson OBE, said: “In sector in Cumbria is due massive Well Whitehaven initiative, who are working July 2016 we hosted a group of young investment in coming years and we to improve health and wellbeing by realising people from West Cumbria at the Science want young people to make the most the potential of people and communities.
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INFINITY THROUGH THE LENS
ichael Lishman from our corporate was “Don’t wait for the perfect photo to Video footage was taken throughout affairs team provided photography happen, create your own.” the day which would later be edited into an Mfor the event and ran a This tip really stuck with one of the Infinity highlights video, capturing the best photography workshop with some students students who said: “Michael taught us that bits from the festival. from West Lakes Academy who were on sometimes in photography, you have to Georgia Pearson from corporate affairs hand to help with the festival. make your own opportunities. I wouldn’t supported the crew by doing short ‘vox The A-Level photography students ordinarily have felt confident enough to pop’ interviews with guests at the event were set tasks to capture different aspects go and speak to guests like Professor including VIP visitors and the students of the event, using various camera Brain Cox and take his photo, but by the themselves. techniques and an eye for creativity. The end of the day after some coaching from The festival highlights video was shown photographers chose their favourite photos Michael, I felt like more of an established later that evening during the final part of from the day and Michael helped them to photographer and managed to get some the event, where parents of the students use editing software to bring out the best great shots of the Professor – I even were invited to see and experience some in their photos. One of his top tips that he ended up getting a selfie with him and my of the weird and wonderful things that the shared with the budding photographers lanyard signed!” students had been up to.
75 Infinity Festival 2017
#INFINITYNOLIMITS
ehind the scenes, project Andrew said: “There was so much management apprentice, Andrew going on during the day that Twitter turned BBennett, was key in sharing the story into a bit of a live feed, one minute I was of the festival. tweeting about a dancing robot, the next it In a jam-packed day full of workshops, was photos of dry ice demonstrations.” guest speakers, demonstrations, robots “It was great to see so many and simulators, Andrew got the Cumbrian local people and businesses join the community talking about science, conversation by using the Infinity hashtag. technology and engineering on Twitter The likes, comments and retweets were using the hashtag #InfinityNoLimits creating coming in thick and fast, there was just as a constant feed of information, photos and much of a buzz on Twitter as there was in videos being shared from the event. the room.”
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77 Women in nuclear Women in nuclear
Madeleine Archer Lydia Rowell
eputy operations manager for Madeleine’s active role on the industry Demonstrating our legacy ponds and silos, advisory board for the engineering and D Madeleine Archer, has won the applied science department at Aston excellence in their roles prestigious Karen Burt Award 2017 University.” from the Women’s Engineering Society at Sellafield, inspiring for her engineering excellence. echanical engineer Lydia Chair of judges, Sally Sudworth, Rowell is up for a national and mentoring others said: “Madeleine’s passion for her work Maward, after being named came across very clearly. Her role as the region’s ‘Advanced Level in their field, and a student ambassador in promoting Apprentice of the Year’ by the National engineering to school children is Apprenticeship Service. impressive, as is her mentoring of The 20-year-old works as a supporting their chosen engineering graduates at Sellafield. mechanical fitter, having just completed “Her support for her professional a four year apprenticeship. professional bodies body, the Institution of Chemical Lydia said: “I am really happy to win Engineers, is impressive as was her this award and will use this opportunity is all in a day’s work involvement in a BBC documentary to keep promoting apprenticeships about Sellafield to help promote locally and nationally. Being able for our award winning engineering and the nuclear industry. to inspire young people is highly women in nuclear. The panel was also impressed with rewarding.”
78 Apprentice Special
THROUGH THE LENS: APPRENTICES
79 Apprentice Special
Almost 10,000 nuclear workers started their career as an apprentice at Sellafield.
1950s
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2017
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Hands-on learning and the sharing of knowledge between generations has always been at the heart of our apprentice training programmes.
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Our modern apprenticeship programmes give young people the skills they need to have a successful career at Sellafield and beyond.
84 Apprentice Special
Our apprentices start their training with our supply chain partners, Gen2.
85 Apprentice Special
In 2017 more than 140 apprentices, including 35 degree-level apprentices, started their career with us.
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Our apprenticeship schemes range from traditional engineering, mechanical, and electrical programmes through to business administration, health physics and project management.
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98% of our apprentices choose to continue their careers with us at the end of their training.
90 Investing in our workforce
FACTS ABOUT INVESTING 10 SKILLS IN OUR WORKFORCE
1 5 10 322 37YEARS of our employees are We have had our current currently participating in dedicated training centre at higher education courses. Sellafield for 37 years.
We have more 2 than 5,000 6 further and higher education courses available from 100+ NVQs to PhDs. More than 100 employees have gained their apprentice degree with us and a further 100 are currently completing the 3 THIS YEAR MORE THAN 130 OF OUR Degree Apprentice EMPLOYEES scheme. STARTED HIGHER 2017 EDUCATION COURSES.
We are an 7 Apprentice 4 TO STRENGTHEN OUR PROJECT Trailblazer for the government, MANAGEMENT leading and SKILLS BASE ALL contributing to the OF OUR CURRENT development of a 30% OF ALL SELLAFIELD AND NEW PROJECT number of apprenticeship standards, LTD APPRENTICES ARE MANAGERS including nuclear, project management FEMALE. COMPLETE THE and craft related apprenticeships. ASSOCIATION 529 OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT 8 We have trained 10,000 LEVEL D AWARD apprentices over the last – A RECOGNISED KNOWLEDGE-BASED 10,000 65 years. FOUNDATION LEVEL QUALIFICATION. 529 EMPLOYEES As well as traditional trade apprenticeships we offer HAVE ALREADY 9 21 diverse schemes, offering apprenticeships COMPLETED THE from Level 2 through to Level 6 BEng degree. QUALIFICATION. 21
91 Directors’ Forum
28 SEPTEMBER 2017 DIRECTORS’ FORUM
Sellafield is changing – and we’re committed to working with our partners in an open, honest and transparent way. That was the key message taken away by the 400 people from the supply chain who attended our first Director’s Forum.
irectors from across our supply chain came Our supply chain director, Martin Chown, added: together at Energus last September to hear “We are pushing to become a Dabout our new supply chain strategy, to speak to our project teams and to tell us how we can be a business that genuinely sees the better client. supply chain as an extension of Head of supply chain development and innovation Emma-Jayne Gooch said: “The day was essentially our own organisation because we a really big conversation, which might sound obvious see the true value that they bring but marks a real step change for our organisation. We weren’t there to talk at the supply chain, we were to our work at Sellafield.” there to talk with them. The event also saw the launch of a new initiative “We had a mix of our employees and designed to support local and national small to representatives from our tier 2 partners who could medium sized enterprises. ‘LINC with Sellafield Ltd’ talk to the supply chain about the work they are sees businesses register and then collaborate to doing at Sellafield, and the supply chain in turn talked propose solutions to specific challenges we have at about how their businesses might be able to help. Sellafield. For more on the scheme, see page 54.
92 Directors’ Forum
Date: 28 September 2017 Location: Energus, Whitehaven
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“It was brilliant to have so many valuable clients and peers in one place, and to talk to the people that genuinely understand our collective challenges, and more importantly the people that can influence them and have the ability to turn them into opportunities. “I left the event feeling really optimistic and with belief that the change journey is actually happening, rather than the supply chain standing at the bus stop watching we’ve been invited to take a seat on the bus as well!” Gill Marsden, MD, NIS Ltd
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Our supply chain strategy is available now – download your copy from www.gov.uk/ sellafieldltd
95 Photographer in Residence
96 Photographer in Residence
Photographer in residence Less is more. Photography is always a collaboration between the subject and the photographer. Sometimes you need to be able to just switch out the lights to add an air of mystery. You just need to reduce a subject down to its basic elements. Working in the underwater test facility one Friday afternoon, with the Brokk being remotely operated, it felt like I was working alone with some prehistoric dinosaur like creature. Michael Lishman
97 Five minutes with
FIVE MINUTES WITH
Julia McClelland
The tragic events in New York on 11 September 2001 caused many people around the world to pause and reflect. For Julia McClelland it triggered a career change that has led to her becoming the first woman in the nuclear industry to achieve Chartered Security Professional Status.
How did you get into security? I am proud that my accreditation means What’s next for you? that I am the first woman in the nuclear The re-organisation of the United Kingdom I am passionate about encouraging others industry to achieve Chartered Security Atomic Energy Authority at Windscale to join the Security Institute which is the largest Professional Status. Site gave me the opportunity to work in professional membership body for security information security. I had worked and trained What keeps you awake at professionals. My work on the validation board in conventional and radiological safety but night? helps to uphold standards in our profession security was always my passion. and I want to share my knowledge and I had been in New York a few weeks before Global and national security threats are experience with others and set an example the 9/11 terrorist attack. I had joined family always at the forefront of my mind but I am to those who are contemplating a career in and friends for a meal in a restaurant called encouraged by the progress being made security. ‘Windows on the World’ in the North Tower. On around raising awareness of the terrorist threat 9/11 the 72 members of staff, some of whom to the UK. Initiatives like Action Counters had looked after us, perished. I felt compelled Terrorism encourage people to trust their to do something to make sure that such events instincts and if they see or hear something didn’t happen to me, my family, workplace or that could be terror related they can call the community. anti-terrorism hotline confidentially on 0800 789 321. Julia’s favourite What made you decide to go Closer to home we have something similar for professional accreditation? at Sellafield. Project Servator recognises that things people in the community can be extra eyes I wanted to get formal recognition of my FAVOURITE BOOK? and ears in our efforts to keep the site safe 26 years of specialist knowledge, skills and A YEAR IN PROVENCE BY PETER MAYLE and secure. If people in the area see or hear experience. I was already an active member anything suspicious they can call of the Security Institute. My boss had been FAVOURITE FILM? 019467 73999. ‘admitted to the Register’ as it’s called and SKYFALL – DANIEL CRAIG IS A GREAT encouraged me to apply. How has your job impacted on 21ST CENTURY BOND The application process and the 10,000 your personal life? FAVOURITE FOOD? word dissertation were a challenge but it CHATEAUBRIAND has also given me experience that I could After 31 years working as a nuclear safety bring back to Sellafield. For example, I’m professional, upholding standards and FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESTINATION? strengthening our arrangements for dealing expectations are part of my DNA. I’m much THE MALDIVES more aware of potential threats both safety and with unmanned aerial vehicles, which pose FAVOURITE BAND? security challenges for us as well as bringing security related than others because of this, TAKE THAT benefits. which is a very good thing.
98 NEXT ISSUE Sellafield Issue 09 April 2018
In Focus: High level waste
Next Generation: Inside the National College for Nuclear Return on Investment: Community investment
Ready for retrievals: The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo Available April 2018 For all things Sellafield, visit our website: www.gov.uk/sellafieldltd