News story

Dounreay supercompactor prepares for re-start

Dounreay鈥檚 low level waste drum crushing plant will soon be back in full working order.

Dounreay

皇冠体育app new supercompactor for the Waste Receipt, Assay, Characterisation and Supercompaction plant (WRACS) has arrived on site and is now being installed.

Two cranes hauled the 45 tonne drum-crusher into the air and delivered it into the building through the roof hatch, with operators and contractors inside waiting to guide it to its final position.

皇冠体育app original drum-crusher suffered a major mechanical failure in August 2011. When it became apparent that it could not be fixed, DSRL found a brand new supercompactor that was surplus to requirements, saving both time and money.

皇冠体育appre have been a lot of positives with this story, says DSRL project manager Graham Beaven.

鈥淲e used the containment that housed the old supercompactor to demonstrate the principle of bulk low level waste disposal for the first time,鈥� he explains.

鈥淭hat unit is now awaiting disposal in the new low level waste vaults.鈥�

皇冠体育app project was recognised in Dounreay鈥檚 internal Decommissioning Excellence awards for its contribution to the new disposal strategy, as DSRL worked with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that a satisfactory case could be made that the bulk waste disposal met the best practicable means test.

皇冠体育app WRACS team has been working to assay and characterise the LLW drums while the supercompactor has been out of action, and will have a backlog of approximately 11,000 drums to crush into pucks by the time supercompaction resumes.

皇冠体育app supercompactor is expected to be in operation by April next year, and the team will work shifts until the backlog is cleared. 10/12/2013

Dounreay鈥檚 low level waste drum crushing plant will soon be back in full working order.

皇冠体育app new supercompactor for the Waste Receipt, Assay, Characterisation and Supercompaction plant (WRACS) has arrived on site and is now being installed.

Two cranes hauled the 45 tonne drum-crusher into the air and delivered it into the building through the roof hatch, with operators and contractors inside waiting to guide it to its final position.

皇冠体育app original drum-crusher suffered a major mechanical failure in August 2011. When it became apparent that it could not be fixed, DSRL found a brand new supercompactor that was surplus to requirements, saving both time and money.

皇冠体育appre have been a lot of positives with this story, says DSRL project manager Graham Beaven.

鈥淲e used the containment that housed the old supercompactor to demonstrate the principle of bulk low level waste disposal for the first time,鈥� he explains.

鈥淭hat unit is now awaiting disposal in the new low level waste vaults.鈥�

皇冠体育app project was recognised in Dounreay鈥檚 internal Decommissioning Excellence awards for its contribution to the new disposal strategy, as DSRL worked with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that a satisfactory case could be made that the bulk waste disposal met the best practicable means test.

皇冠体育app WRACS team has been working to assay and characterise the LLW drums while the supercompactor has been out of action, and will have a backlog of approximately 11,000 drums to crush into pucks by the time supercompaction resumes.

皇冠体育app supercompactor is expected to be in operation by April next year, and the team will work shifts until the backlog is cleared.

Updates to this page

Published 10 December 2013