UK Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) has received planning consent to demolish the turbine hall and electrical annexe at the Sizewell A NPP site. “This is fantastic news,” said Sizewell A Site Director Alan Walker. “I’d like to thank everyone involved in helping to deliver our mission to decommission Sizewell A site safely, securely and sustainably.”
Alan Cumming, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Group Chief Assurance & Performance Officer, said decommissioning would free up land which can then be reused to deliver benefits for the local community. “Demolition of the turbine hall will be a tangible step forward in delivering our mission and I want to thank all those involved for their hard work in getting us to the stage and the incredible progress that has been made to far.”
According to Senior Project Manager Wendy Heath this is one of the largest programmes of work Sizewell A has seen for many years. “It will result in a major skyline change for the community and clear an area the size of a professional football pitch for future use by March 2025,” she noted.
“We began removing all the redundant equipment from the turbine hall last year and expect to complete this in August ready for the demolition stage. Over 5,500 tonnes of metal has been safely taken out …. The waste has been recycled on the metals market and is expected to generate an income of between £3-4.5m ($3.8-5.8m)”
Supply chain partner Erith began work as the principal contractor in July 2022 based on experience from previous NRS turbine hall demolitions. “We’ve carried out extensive enabling works to get ready for the demolition to start in August,” said Ashley Notman, Erith Project Manager.
“These include removing scaffolding and hazardous materials and de-planting major items of mechanical/electrical generating plant and equipment. We worked closely with NRS and the Office of Nuclear Regulation to provide the justification to allow the use of targeted specialist explosive demolition to weaken the large concrete plinths the turbines stood on. This assists the overall programme of works by reducing the duration of traditional mechanical demolition methods by about 40% and noise pollution.”
This involved:
- 25,000 work hours to clean all areas of asbestos to ensure a safe working environment.
- 45,000 work hours to remove 8,000 scaffolding boards, clips and pipes.
- 2,498 tonnes of metal removed and recycled from the two turbines in 2023/4.
- 35.6 miles of cabling removed.
Sizewell A’s two 210 MWe Magnox gas-cooled reactors were shut down on 31 December 2006 after 40 years of low carbon electricity generation. Between 2009 and 2015, fuel was removed from the reactors to onsite used fuel storage ponds before being packaged in transport containers for shipment to the Sellafield complex for reprocessing.
