Introduction to Decommissioning and Sellafield Ltd event
Organised by the YGN North East Nuclear Institute branch
Written by Fanny Fouin
The Introduction to Decommissioning and Sellafield Ltd event saw an early morning departure for its participants from the North East on Tuesday 15th May to travel to the Cumbrian site. The smooth travel allowed an early start of the visit lead by Lois Holman and Eva Watson-Graham from Sellafield Visitor Office. After a safety brief and an overview of the day, the team made their way onto the site with a first stop at the THORP (Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant). The plant visit began with an overview of the Sellafield site, its history and a brief on its numerous plants and buildings. Then a tour around the THORP viewing gallery was given allowing the participants to see and understand the activities inside this plant. After this the team went for a bus tour around the site giving the opportunity to see all the major plants and work going on. The participants appreciated getting a real feel for size and number of activities going on.
The team then made their way back onto the Visitor Centre for lunch and some networking with some Sellafield NI members.
The visit continued back on site to the Chemical Separation Area in the afternoon. After gearing up, the participants were able to enjoy the sunny Cumbrian coast weather while walking around the different buildings and receiving great explanations on the different building activities currently going on or planned. The team finally made their way back up to Yottenfews Farm House to then head back towards the North East.
This site visit was very instructive allowing the participants to have a real feel for what is going on this major UK nuclear site, to see some of the projects they have been working on or even get a better understanding of their plants’ fuel reprocessing route.
The YGN NE NI would like to thanks Lois, Jemma and Eva for their very informative visit as well as Matt for coordinating this event and answering the many questions on the day. Finally thank you to Rebecca Weston for sponsoring this visit.