The AREVA-ATKINS Partnership UK
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Image copyright: AREVA, E. Larrayadieu
Partnership UK
The AREVA-ATKINS
The AREVA-ATKINS
Partnership UK
Industry leaders, AREVA and Atkins, have formed a new partnership offering
their exemplary capability and combined expertise to clients in the UK.
The AREVA-ATKINS Partnership UK brings a unique combination of
international technology along with unbeatable design and engineering
consultancy, and a deep understanding of the UK market and regulations.
The new Partnership will enable clients to engage with a single entity that
focuses on supporting the back-end of the UK nuclear fuel cycle, including
spent fuel management, waste management and decommissioning projects
across the UK.
Leading the way
The combination of two worldwide leaders in Atkins is one of the world’s leading design and
the nuclear industry not only provides a full engineering consultancies with around 9,000
range of specialist expertise to the UK nuclear of its 17,500 people based in the UK. Its
sector, but also supports the growth of a long- global nuclear consultancy has been involved
term, sustainable, nuclear industry. in the UK nuclear clean-up programme since
the late 1980s working at Sellafield, Magnox
AREVA is the world leader in the back-end and former UKAEA sites.
of the nuclear fuel cycle with expertise in all
back-end operations. The group’s back-end Together the two parties unite 60 years
activities employ 11,000 people (2011) and of engineering consultancy, technology
include used-fuel recycling, decommissioning, development and related services in the
waste management and transport solutions nuclear sector, and the strength of 65,000
for each stage of the cycle. AREVA’s recycling people worldwide, a substantial portion of
technology, in use at the la Hague and which are nuclear sector professionals.
MELOX plants (respectively in Normandy
and in the Rhône valley, France), enables
Cherenkov radiation the reprocessing and re-use of 96% of used Berkeley power station
fuel. AREVA is part of Nuclear Management
Partners in the United Kingdom which
manages Sellafield.
4 Providing a full range of expertise
5
AREVA as part of the Sellafield Limited has recently awarded
Nuclear Waste Management contracts to AREVA for:
• A highly active effluent storage facility
Ltd consortium project, together with AMEC and Balfour
AREVA with its partners URS Washington Beatty in the HALEF Partnership.
Division, Studsvik and Serco Assurance, • The design, supply and installation of a
through the Nuclear Waste Management new rod line for the SMP MOX fuel plant
Ltd consortium, manages and operates the (Sellafield MOX Plant).
UK’s Low Level Waste Repository located • AREVA has also transferred knowledge
West Cumbria. and operating methods, supplied
equipment, and provided technical
AREVA is also a member of the Nuclear support to the Sellafield site to
Case studies Management Partners (NMP), a joint improve the performance of the Waste Case studies
venture comprising URS Washington Vitrification Plant at Sellafield.
Division, AMEC Plc and AREVA. The
consortia manage and operate the
Sellafield nuclear complex with the UK
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Sellafield site MOX plant at the Savannah River site
Research and development, The cold crucible operates according to the Savannah River: recycling of AREVA expertise
high-level waste direct induction principle: military-grade plutonium
• The wall of the cold crucible is cooled by The Shaw-AREVA MOX Services joint
conditioning: a water circulation system. In 2000, the United States and Russia venture, LLC (formerly Duke COGEMA
The cold crucible • A protective layer of condensed glass signed a bilateral agreement stipulating that Stone & Webster, LLC) was selected by the
then forms, called a ‘self-crucible’. each country would commit to eliminating DoE to design, construct, and operate the
Cold Crucible technology is used by AREVA • This protects the metal crucible from 34 metric tons of surplus military MFFF MOX production plant.
to maintain its technological progress in the effects of high temperatures plutonium produced during the Cold
the field of vitrification whilst meeting and corrosion caused by the bath of War by recycling it as fuel for civil nuclear This new plant will:
the needs of its customers. The entry into molten glass. applications. In 2008, the Department of • Facilitate the fulfilment of the 2000
operation of the Cold Crucible represents Energy (DoE) made an agreement with a American-Russian agreement on
the end result of 25 years of research and In comparison with the current process, joint venture, created by the AREVA and military-grade plutonium disposal.
The Cold Crucible
development undertaken by the CEA the cold crucible technology has major SHAW groups, for the construction of a • Reduce the risk of plutonium proliferation.
(Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux advantages. It makes it possible to: MOX fuel production plant. • Reduce the long-term storage costs for
Energies Renouvelables) in collaboration • Increase the frequency of vitrification, the plutonium.
with AREVA. This is the first time that this thus making it possible to reach The decision was made to build two plants • Transform surplus military-grade
equipment has been used for vitrification of the potential of 1,500 tonnes with on the Savannah River site, in Aiken, South plutonium into a commercial, civil
high-level waste. future fuels. Carolina, as part of the American plutonium asset (fuel).
• Increase the lifetime of the equipment. recycling program, comprising:
The cold crucible principle: The lifetime of the cold crucible is 10 • A pit disassembly and conversion facility MFFF relies on the expertise of the
Unlike the melting pot, which heats glass times longer than that of the melting (PDCF), where nuclear warheads are AREVA la Hague and MELOX plants. The
by thermal conductivity from the walls of pots because its cold structure is not dismantled and where the recovered construction of the plant began in 2007.
the pot to the core of the glass bath, the sensitive to corrosion, protected by the metal is converted into plutonium oxide.
principle of the cold crucible is to induce layer of solidified glass formed between • A fuel fabrication plant (MFFF – Mixed-
electric currents directly within the glass the structure and the glass bath. oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility), where
to raise its temperature without heating • Vitrify a wider range of products and plutonium oxide is mixed with uranium
the crucible. ultimately to reduce the volume of final oxide to make MOX assemblies.
“
waste. The cold crucible is ‘multi-glass’,
i.e. it allows for vitrification of various
types of waste, due to its use at a higher
temperature and its cold structure that is The partnership will enable us to put our proven
not sensitive to corrosion.
technology to use in meeting the challenges of
the UK decommissioning market.
”
— Dominique Mockly, Executive Senior Vice President, AREVA
The AREVA-ATKINS Partnership UK
6 Unbeatable design and engineering
7
Sellafield legacy ponds As the design and safety case lead within the Berkeley MiniStores ILW
and silos ACKtiv Alliance, Atkins has delivered to date, management project
the multi-disciplinary design and associated
Case studies In 2001 Atkins, Jacobs and Carillion formed safety justification for five separate projects: Atkins has provided a multidiscipline team Case studies
ACKtiv Nuclear, a joint venture which is to Magnox to help enhance their on-site
focused on delivering whole lifecycle • Ponds Alliance – In alliance with Sellafield technical capability and review the design
projects to the nuclear sector, and Sellafield Ltd, the project engineered, procured and and implementation of MiniStores at
in particular. constructed the facilities for early enabling Berkeley Site.
works to remove the fuel and associated
ACKtiv Nuclear has delivered over £100m waste from the pond. Initially the project included reviewing
of services to Sellafield across a portfolio of • Export Facility – ACKtiv Nuclear was the original Life Time Plan (LTP) scope
projects. At the heart of these projects is the responsible for the conversion of the fuel for Intermediate-Level Waste (ILW)
decommissioning of the First Generation inlet facility for the export of fuel. management in the four main Berkeley
Magnox Storage Pond and the processing of • Sludge Processing Plant Project – facilities:
the subsequent wastes. Completion of an assessment and
refurbishment of the repackaging and • Shielded Area (SA)
The £300m Legacy Ponds and Silos Project conditioning facility. • Caesium Removal Plant (CRP)
at Sellafield includes the refurbishment, • Retrievals Project – Construction of • Active Waste Vaults Retrievals (AWVR)
retrieval of waste and clean-up of the most facilities to retrieve the sludge from • ILW Store (ILWS)
challenging legacy facilities in the UK. legacy facilities.
• Isolation and Risk Reduction Project Following this early involvement Atkins has
Berkeley MiniStores
– Assessment of an ageing facility continued to play a constant role in the
and recommendations for upgrade. development of the Berkeley Ministores
Construction work is ongoing. ILW Project. Atkins has supported the
“
client to guarantee the most appropriate ILW vault retrieval A solution was delivered
engineering solutions have been developed and processing to Magnox that not only
and implemented. significantly accelerates the
The partnership will Magnox – Bradwell programme but also reduces
This has involved Atkins engineers fulfilling secondary waste volumes
allow us to further the key client roles within Magnox, The Magnox Fuel Element from their previous dissolution
including the detailed technical review Debris (FED) at Bradwell will be process by a factor of almost
develop skills and and acceptance of contractor’s design and recovered and processed in a 200.
being instrumental in the development dissolution facility on site. This
capabilities to of the engineering strategy. Further to will involve the retrieval of waste Following on from this, Atkins is
this, an Atkins ‘reach-back’ team has from its existing storage location currently working on the detailed
support a long term, continuously been involved in providing and segregation/sorting of the design of the solution, which will
Magnox with both traditional design waste forms whilst providing greatly reduce the long-term
sustainable UK based consultancy services and technical adequate shielding to minimise costs for Magnox associated with
”
expertise when required. public and personnel radiological safe waste storage.
nuclear industry. dose uptake.
This support has covered a wide spectrum The project is a fast-track
— Martin Grant, CEO Energy, Atkins of skills and expertise including: civil, Atkins was approached by schedule, with Atkins providing
mechanical (both handling and M&E), Magnox to develop the the engineering design manager
environmental, process, electrical, control concept including the selection and the mechanical design and
and instrumentation, town and country of dissolution technology safety case support to Costain.
planning, radiological assessment and together with producing the In addition, Atkins has provided
specialist fire advice. engineering design through to the fire safety, human factors,
scheme design, including design AR&M, process chemistry,
Sellafield site
proposal drawings, general environmental, requirements,
arrangements, specifications and risk capture and civil structural
HAZOP 1 & 2 deliverables. support.
The AREVA-ATKINS Partnership UK
8 9
Atkins is one of the world’s leading engineering AREVA supplies solutions for power
and design consultancies. We have the generation with less carbon. Its expertise and
breadth and depth of expertise to respond to unwavering insistence on safety, security,
the most technically challenging and time- transparency and ethics are setting the
critical infrastructure projects. This is why standard, and its responsible development
we were chosen as the official engineering is anchored in a process of continuous
services provider for the London 2012 improvement.
Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Ranked first in the global nuclear power
We are a preeminent supplier of technical industry, AREVA’s unique integrated offering
and project services to the UK nuclear sector, to utilities covers every stage of the fuel cycle,
Company having been involved for more than 50 nuclear reactor design and construction, and Company
profile years in the decommissioning, new build related services. The group is also expanding profile
and operations of the UK nuclear facilities. its operations to renewable energies – wind,
As trusted advisors to UK Government, solar, bioenergies, hydrogen and storage – to
Regulator and operators, Atkins is uniquely be one of the leaders in this sector worldwide.
placed to offer innovative and highly With these two major offers, AREVA’s 48,000
regarded skills to the fuel management and employees are helping to supply ever safer,
decommissioning sector. cleaner and more economical energy to the
greatest number of people.
Our leading global nuclear consultancy has
been involved in the UK nuclear clean-up www.areva.com
programme since the late 1980s: working in
the NDA market at Sellafield, Magnox and
former UKAEA sites.
www.atkinsglobal.com
The AREVA-ATKINS Partnership UK
10
Atkins AREVA UK Ltd
Contact
Phil Malem Phil Sansom
Chadwick House 21 St James’s Square
Birchwood Park London
Warrington SW1Y 4JZ
WA3 6AE
Tel: +44 (0)1925 238000 Tel: +44 (0)20 700 47908
Email: phil.malem@atkinsglobal.com Email: phil.sansom@areva.com
www.atkinsglobal.com www.areva.com
Bringing combined expertise to the UK
decommissioning and fuel cycle market.
The AREVA-ATKINS Partnership UK
www.areva.com www.atkinsglobal.com
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