CRITICALITY SAFETY SUPPORT

Client:
AWE Aldermaston

Description:
Nuclear Technologies were awarded the contract to provide support to the AWE Criticality Safety Group. The risk posed by criticality, due to the nature of the operations conducted at AWE, is one of the main risks on the site. Nuclear Technologies personnel are hence providing a vital service in this highly specialised discipline.

Scope of service supplied

• Writing criticality safety cases for modifications to processes in the main AWE fissile facilities and for new processes to be introduced into these facilities.

• Supporting and helping to project manage the reassessment programme for all the main processes in AWE’s main production facility at AWE.

• Conducting annual criticality safety inspections of those facilities at AWE which are used for the handling, processing and storing fissile material and fissile contaminated wastes.

• Writing procedures for use by AWE Criticality Safety Group personnel (e.g. for auditing and emergency arrangements, conducting criticality safety inspections etc).

• Writing criticality safety cases to address the unique problems posed by decommissioning large fissile material facilities on site.

• Undertaking criticality safety assessments, to the rigorous standards laid down by the DfT, IAEA etc, for the on-site and off-site transportation of fissile materials.

• Constructing criticality safety cases for novel aspects of some of the experimental work conducted at AWE and writing summary papers of this work for endorsement by high-level safety committees at AWE.

• Providing design advice on criticality safety to the teams designing potential future replacements for the existing fissile facilities on the AWE site.

AWE has been so satisfied with the support provided by Nuclear Technologies that demand for our services is increasing on site.