Annual Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe
8/03/2015
EDA will participate in a panel session in the frame of the event, which will be held in Manchester, UK, on 5-6 May, 2015.
The topics of the panel session will be to understand the challenges involved for demolition contractors when operating in such a highly regulated industry, as well as to discover the need for meticulous planning at every stage of the project: following a full decommissioning strategy highlighting specific methodology, environmental impact reports and feasibility studies
Finally, the last theme of the panel session will be the gain an insight into the latest demolition and decommissioning projects from various demolition contractors across Europe.
Rebecca Weston, head of business and programme integration at Sellafield, and Mark Rouse, managing director of Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL), are among those presenting case studies in the event.
The announcement came as DSRL said it would be extending its closure plan by five years to accommodate the UK government’s new approach to fuel storage, as well as new security requirements.
One analyst said the nascent global decommissioning industry was in a “remarkably fluid time”, characterised by an approaching cascade of projects in Europe and the US, plus a severe shortage of skills and lack of clarity on decommissioning costs.
Other speakers named by conference organiser, Nuclear Energy Insider (NEI), include EDF’s decommissioning expert, Gerard Laurent, who will provide updates on the latest developments at the Chooz A site, and Darius Janulevičius, Director General at Lithuania’s Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.
In the UK alone, £2.91bn is expected to be spent on site-based decommissioning activities in 2015-16, according to the draft business plan released for consultation by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) on 8 December.
“We’re in a remarkably fluid time in a sector that really has yet to take definite shape,” said NEI analyst Michael Vickery, announcing the speaker line-up. “There are signs that regulators, site licence companies and the supply chain are all still wrapping their heads around how to approach this massive task as national priorities continue to shift.”
On 12 December DSRL announced that it would be extending its decommissioning programme by five years to accommodate the government’s plan to consolidate its fuel inventory in Sellafield. The initial programme devised in 2012 had assumed fuel would remain in long-term storage Dounreay, but now DSRL will have to repackage the fuel in readiness for transport.
Links
