Decommissioning of the nuclear fuel storage ponds at Berkeley Power Station

As part of the preparatory work for the Care & Maintenance 1 of the Berkeley Power Station decommissioning programme, the works associated with the Cooling Ponds building and associated irradiated fuel Transfer Tunnels was segregated into three phases by BNFL. Between April 1997 and May 2000, Rolls Royce Nuclear Engineering Services (R-RNESL) carried out the Phase 2, the largest of the three phases of the project. This involved the design, manufacture, installation and operation of equipment to remove the contaminated material from the building and associated transfer tunnels. The ponds building and transfer tunnel ventilation systems were also completely removed. This paper outlines how R-RNESL and its subcontractors have approached the complete removal of contamination and remaining plant and equipment from the Cooling Ponds building and Transfer Tunnels in order to meet the Radiological End Point (REP).