Sizewell A has been busy identifying opportunities to demonstrate efficiency and innovation as work gets underway to decommission the former power station. Using the existing workforce to ‘self perform’ deplanting activities offers extra value to the site owner, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Since the cessation of generation just over a year ago, the infrastructure team has been reducing the hazard and clearing areas on site, ready for use when bigger decommissioning projects get underway.
The site’s oxygen store and hydrogen compounds have been deplanted, disposing of the equipment as scrap metal. The land has then been reused, either as a laydown area or as a work area for contractors.

Clearing of the hydrogen compound involved heavy lifting of bulk hydrogen and methanol containers. Not only has it cleared over 600m² for future use, it has resulted in efficiency savings through the income generated from selling the items on as scrap. It has also supported the company objective to recycle waste wherever possible.

Other heavy lifts on site have included removal of the field engineering services cabins which formerly housed external engineering support for projects and outages. Empty for just over a year, these five units have been removed to create another potential laydown area of around 180m².

The site is continuing to identify work that can be self-performed, supporting the delivery of the decommissioning strategy.