The team building our Box Encapsulation Plant Direct Import Facility (BEPPS-DIF) at Sellafield have ended the week with a glimpse into the future.
After meticulous planning across BEPPS-DIF; our Silos Maintenance Facility, our Pile Fuel Cladding Silo and our transport teams; an inactive transport package was transported and brought into the Direct Import Facility today (Friday).
This tests the route and the equipment which will ultimately handle an active waste package from a donor plant in the future. Transported to the facility using Sellafield transport via the roadbay and then lifted into the facility, this task gives increased stakeholder confidence but also unlocks months of commissioning within the facility, which has been designed to handle packages for 40 years.
Mike Robinson, BEPPS-DIF senior project manager said:
The team have done an excellent job in the current environment of getting us to the stage where we are able to undertake this work. Seeing a package go into the facility and follow the path as it would as if the plant were active was quite surreal, for a moment providing a window to the future and bringing home the scale and importance of the work that we do every day.