Hinkley decontaminates final skip
Hinkley Point A has achieved a major milestone in its decommissioning programme by decontaminating the last of its huge inventory of nearly 1,800 skips – the largest inventory across the Magnox estate.
The skips were used during generation to store spent fuel elements in the cooling ponds prior to their despatch to Sellafield for reprocessing.
Brian Hughes, Site Director said: “As a major hazard reduction this is the site’s biggest achievement so far this year. It is a culmination of several years’ worth of work and real innovative thinking from the team.”
The skips were decontaminated using a computerised ultra high pressure water jet which removed the outer layer of contaminated paint while still inside the booth.
The decontaminated skips will now be size reduced ready to be transported, via ISO container, to America for smelting and re-use in the nuclear industry.
