‘Game-changing’ nuclear sludge removal trialled at Forth

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A new technique to remove sludge from nuclear fuel ponds has been successfully trialled at Forth’s Deep Recovery Facility (DRF) in the company’s headquarters in Cumbria.

The Decommissioning Alliance (TDA) has been tasked with installing equipment to allow operators to safely retrieve debris laying at the bottom of fuel ponds at a site operated by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to safely remove and transport the recovered material for safe, long-term storage.

TDA representatives will complete the task by attaching a Bulk Sludge Retrieval Tool (BSRT), which acts like an ‘industrial hoover’, to a 40m umbilical. The tool will retrieve the sludge and then store it safely. 

To test the new way of working, which includes the use of remotely operated vehicles to lock a hinged double boom arm in position, the team trialled the methods at Forth’s DRF.

“The work we are carrying out at the site has been ongoing since 2010 and has been instrumental in reducing the inventory in the pond, which in turn reduces the overall risk,” said TDA project manager Scott Bond.

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