Radiation Protection Today - Winter 2022 Issue 4 | Page 14

The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo ( PFCS ) is MSSS ' s sister plant and holds the waste fuel cladding from the Windscale Piles , which were used to produce the UK ' s first plutonium . MSSS and PFCS were due to enter retrievals at a similar time , but the PFCS project had a couple of significant issues with pieces of installed equipment and recovery from these has impacted the delivery of retrievals .

Sellafield site also has legacy fuel storage ponds where highly radioactive items are stored under water . These are being removed to minimise risk and provide space
The Magnox Swarf Storage Silo to allow further work to take place in the ponds . The interim storage areas for recovered items are filling up , so two Active Demonstrator projects are now processing these items to free up space so more items can be removed .
The Skip Size Reduction Facility ( SSRF ) is cutting up contaminated containers ( known as skips ) recovered from the storage ponds to reduce their volume , then packing the pieces inside a second skip which is moved to the Miscellaneous Beta Gamma Waste Store . This method reduces the required storage space by half . Size reduction and packaging are carried out inside a tented containment area with a flap to allow skips to be lifted in and out by crane . A fixative spray is applied to the skip before cutting to further reduce the potential spread of contamination .
15 Decommissioning Waste Services Partnership ( DWSP ) is used to size-reduce and segregate items into Low Level Waste and Intermediate Level Waste streams , ensuring waste
14 Radiation Protection Today www . srp-rpt . uk