Bechtel-led team awarded contract extension for Sellafield Pile Fuel Cladding Silo project in the UK

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Jun 25, 2021, 15:34 ET

RESTON, Va., June 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sellafield Ltd. has awarded Bechtel Cavendish Nuclear Solutions a two-year contract extension and added work to the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo project at the UK's Sellafield Site in northern England.

The team has been on the project since 2012, designing and installing access doors and remote-handling equipment to retrieve decades-old nuclear waste from sealed compartments in a building described as one of Europe's most hazardous.

Pile Fuel Cladding Silo at the Sellafield site in the UK, known as one of the four most hazardous buildings in Western Europe

The waste consists of 3,200 cubic meters of radioactive cladding – pieces of metal tubes used for uranium fuel rods in some of the UK's earliest nuclear reactors. The mission of the PFCS project is to deliver a system that allows Sellafield to retrieve the waste, package it safely, and dispose of it permanently.

The new scope calls for:

procurement, manufacture, preparation, installation, and commissioning of additional equipment to allow Sellafield to retrieve waste from the remaining five silo compartments, once the first compartment has been emptied;
extension and growth of off-site testing facilities, to develop future systems for use on the retrievals plant; and
establishment of a new, centralized control building for all silo monitoring and waste retrieval operations.

"This award continues our very special relationship with our Sellafield colleagues, which has enabled us to consistently deliver ahead of time and under budget," said Clive Billiald, Bechtel programme manager. "I am incredibly proud of our collective team, who thoroughly deserve the trust placed in them."

"This extension reinforces the strong collaborative working relationship we have with Sellafield and our partner and is testament to our delivery performance on one of the four most hazardous buildings in Western Europe," said Fran Worthington, Cavendish Nuclear's Sellafield Business Unit director.

"This award allows us to build on our initiatives to maximise the benefits felt by our local communities, and to create a project legacy further afield," said Robin Spurr, Bechtel Cavendish Nuclear Solutions' Social Value lead. "We will utilise the skills and experience of Bechtel and Cavendish Nuclear people, in conjunction with the Sellafield project team, to create a truly collaborative approach to Social Impact, which will bring greater value to the local area."

Learn more about the project here:

About Cavendish Nuclear

Cavendish Nuclear, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Babcock International Group, is a leading nuclear services company.

From servicing existing nuclear power plants and decommissioning some of the most complex nuclear sites in the world, to helping to keep the UK's fleet of nuclear powered submarines at sea, our people innovate to deliver nuclear services safer, faster, at lower cost.

Cavendish Nuclear at a glance:

Access to 5,000 nuclear SQEP personnel
60+ years of industry heritage
Licensed to operate nuclear sites
Strategic partner supporting nuclear companies in the lifetime extensions of their fleet
Supporting delivery of the UK's first new nuclear power station in a generation
Delivery of large-scale engineering projects at Sellafield and across the UK nuclear estate

We deliver across all aspects of the nuclear energy life-cycle; from design, manufacture and construction, through operations and maintenance, to decommissioning, waste management and remediation. You can view our recent projects here.
www.cavendishnuclear.com

About Bechtel

Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers' objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world's infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.

Bechtel serves the Energy; Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; and Mining & Metals markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.bechtel.com

For further information, please contact:

Kelly Duane, Cavendish Nuclear: [email protected] / +44 (0)7540 672734

Fred deSousa, Bechtel: [email protected] / +1 703 429 6435

SOURCE Bechtel