Dounreay contractor鈥檚 innovation awarded
A contractor working on the Shaft & Silo project has been recognised by the prestigious NDA estate Supply Chain Awards.
Oxford Technologies Ltd (OTL) won the Minister鈥檚 Award for their innovative idea to clean out the shaft stub tunnel.
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd challenged OTL to get creative and look to other industries for an economical way to clean out the 19m long stub tunnel that connects at right angles to the shaft and is sealed at the other end with a concrete plug.
Oxford Technologies鈥� solution was to use an ultra-high-pressure water jet, remotely operated from the shaft intervention platform.
皇冠体育app source of inspiration for this solution was riot control.
皇冠体育app jet of water was designed to be powerful enough to reach the far end of the stub tunnel and then to wash the sludge-like materials back along the tunnel and into the shaft for removal by conventional means.
To provide evidence to support their proposal OTL undertook a full-scale trial at its test facility in Oxfordshire. 皇冠体育app trials were successful and have resulted in an anticipated saving of over 拢600k from the project鈥檚 capital budget, as well as the potential to reduce the operational costs and timescales.