Shepley Engineers were part of the CNSL contract which saw the deployment of a floating pontoon at Sellafield, the pontoons provide greater space and flexibility for decommissioning tasks to be completed, which will save time and costs over conventional methods. The pontoons also provided the operators with a working platform to perform the installation of steel access platforms which would not be possible from the standard walkways around the edges of the bays.
The Pontoons and access platforms were successfully trialled, prior to deployment on a reconstruction of the pond by CNSL at an offsite location.
The use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) pontoons to provide access for installation was a novel approach at Sellafield but through extensive trialling off-site, all parties were reassured that this solution was the right approach.
The additional benefit of trialling was realised on site with effective installation, reducing the time spent in the radiological environment and minimising disruption once the additional measures of the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced.
The completed access platforms over the PFSP Bays will now act as a baring platform and laydown, from which, further phases of work will be delivered, starting with the replacement of the existing 2te building crane.
The biggest impact on this project was the delays brought by Covid-19, not just for this project, but site wide. Restrictions were in place, meaning staff had to work in groups and ‘bubbles’. This meant when the staff returned to site, there was a lot of LFE’s, and advice and best practice was taken from other project and implemented in to this particular project, with the close nature of the site team.
