Engineering firm Stainless Metalcraft near Peterborough at heart of Sellafield nuclear cleanup
An engineering company in the Peterborough area is at the heart of a clean up operation at the UK’s Sellafield nuclear site.
Avingtrans’ Advanced Engineering Systems division, which includes Chatteris-based Stainless Metalcraft, has been contracted to design and make remote maintenance pumps that will have a key role to play in supporting work to remove radioactivity from various effluent streams.
Stainless Metalcraft along with Hayward Tyler, of Luton, and Hayward Tyler Fluid Handling, Glasgow, which are also part of Avingtrans, will together engineer key components for the new Site Ion Exchange Effluent Plant (SIXEP) at Sellafield.
The SIXEP continuity plant will act as the ‘kidneys’ of the site, filtering out radioactive material from its high hazard and risk reduction programmes prior to discharge into the sea.
Sellafield has been operational since 1985 and the site’s capabilities are now required until about 2060 which has prompted the need for the new technology to extend the plant’s working life.
Terry Mayston, project manager at Stainless Metalcraft, said: “The project is a complex one that requires a range of specialist engineering, manufacturing and testing skills, as well as a good understanding of the facilities already in situ at Sellafield.
“The three Avingtrans’ businesses involved in the project each have a strong heritage manufacturing complex components for some of the world’s most demanding operational environments.
"By bringing that expertise together, we were able to fulfil all the requirements of the project, from design, engineering and manufacture to testing, delivery and revising the user manuals.”
Stainless Metalcraft manufactured the pump casings and provided quality and project management services.
Simon Wilcock, the plant’s project director, said: “This achievement is a great example of the supply chain working collaboratively, with the focus on being successful together, to deliver a high-quality product that will form the heart of the effluent treatment process, and supporting high-hazard reduction for years to come.”
SIXEP is a crucial plant that treats effluents from high hazard and risk reduction programmes at Sellafield.
It is fundamental to the delivery of various programmes, including the Magnox Operational Programme and the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor Programme. The commissioning date for the new plant has been set as 2029.