Hitting PCM for Six
The Plutonium Contaminated Materials (PCM) Decommissioning Programme at LLWR remains on course to be completed ahead of schedule in 2018 after another year of achievement from the team on site.
Drum Store, a fixture at the Repository since the 1990s, was successfully demolished
The Decommissioning team delivered significantly more scope in 2016/17 than in previous years – worth over £13m – achieved £2.5m cost savings and executed over 2000 Magazine entries without suffering any lost time accidents.
That’s a 25% increase from the previous 12 months with a reduced team size. and the programme is expected to save the NDA estate over £25m on the original scheduled £100m cost.
Carl Smith, PCM Decommissioning Senior Project Manager, said an expected major increase in scope in 2016/17 had posed a major challenge, but the team had risen to meet it and finished the year with impressive project and safety performance.
He added:
This was made possible by the collaborative working with NSG, our decommissioning partner, and other supply chain experts. The team continued the impressive work we had already delivered over the previous 3 years. This team is a credit to the decommissioning fraternity in the ability to consistently deliver year on year.
We are now entering into the final 12-15 months of the decommissioning scope, which itself brings different risks and new challenges to the team and to LLWR. I am confident we can work through these together as a team and put in place mitigation plans and pass the finish line with a sprint.>
The eventual demolition of the remaining five magazines on Site will make space for future development projects.
A significant step along the road to creating space was taken late last year when an old Drum Store, a fixture at the Repository since the 1990s, was successfully demolished, pictured above, setting the template for the future removal of similar facilities on site.
Gareth Wilson, NSG Project Manager, one of the UK’s leading decommissioning contractors, said:
NSG has been supporting LLWR for over four years now and in that time the team has gone from strength to strength.
The benefit of our close working relationship is evident with the savings that we are currently realising on the project. From the start we have worked hard at collaborating at all levels and ensuring we work as an integrated team.
The leadership team we formed to take a step back and really look at all of our current operations and our planned activities to tease out savings and better ways to deliver the works has made a huge difference.