Costain has delivered the last major module to be installed at Sellafield's Evaporator D - the biggest nuclear project underway in Britain.
Costain has delivered the last major module to be installed at Sellafield’s Evaporator D – the biggest nuclear project underway in Britain.
The 525-tonne module, which is 27 metres long, 7 metres wide and 12 metres high, was safely landed on a beach near Sellafield on 24 September, Costain said. The module, which set out on its journey from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire on 15 September, travelled to an offloading position at the Evaporator D site on 25 September.
Evaporator D, or EVAP D, is a new highly Active Liquor Evaporation operating unit that will provide additional evaporator capacity for the treatment of liquid radioactive waste so that it can be vitrified ready for disposal.
The recently delivered module – Module 920 – contains two of the main vessels that are required for the evaporation. It houses over 5000 metres of high integrity stainless steel piping as well as 23 vessels that have been constructed and installed to meet exacting nuclear quality standards. Completion of the module has involved the efforts of 150 people, Costain said. Interserve was responsible for the construction of the module.
"The safe delivery of Module 920 is a huge milestone for the project and we are delighted to receive this critical piece of infrastructure which will now allow us to focus our efforts on completing the project," said Rob Phillips, EVAP D’s Programme Director.
Following the installation of Module 920, work will start on completing the 1200 welds that will then allow inactive commissioning of the plant to begin. The cable installation and control system installation also need to be completed before the site is handed over for active commissioning in 2016.
In total, Costain has designed, procured and delivered 11 modules to the EVAP D building, which represents the first use of modularisation for a process plant on the Sellafield site.
Photo: Evap D module delivery (Source: Costain)