Omniflex has been awarded a contract to provide the radiological surveillance system for Sellafield’s product and residue store retreatment plant

Radiation monitoring specialist Omniflex has been awarded the contract for Sellafield’s product and residue store retreatment plant (SRP) radiological surveillance system (RSS) project. Omniflex will fulfil the project using its nuclear decommissioning award-winning RPN1 off-the-shelf radiological protection instrument.

Sellafield panel

The Sellafield nuclear site is home to one of the world’s most complex portfolios of construction projects. In order to transform Sellafield Ltd from a nuclear operator into a world leader in environmental remediation, Sellafield Ltd awarded a 20-year project partnership known as the Programme and Project Partners (PPP). This was created to drive collaboration and change the way major projects are delivered at the Sellafield site in Cumbria through newly established long-term partnerships.

One of the PPP’s first major projects is to build a new product and residue  SRP, which will be used to repackage and, where appropriate, re-treat all of the plutonium packages. The plutonium will be packaged in containers suitable for storage for at least 100 years.

A major requirement for this new plant is to provide a radiological surveillance system and one of PPP’s contractors, NG Bailey, has recently awarded this contract to Omniflex. The system will be based on the company’s award-winning RPN1 instrument, which won the company a Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Innovation Award.

“The RPN1 is a COTS gateway device, developed to simplify the process of data collection from radiation monitors,” explained Gary Bradshaw, director at Omniflex. “It is compatible with most radiation protection instruments, regardless of the manufacturer, via their RS485 communications ports and connects them to the plant’s standalone radiological surveillance SCADA system.

“The RPN1 device is an off-the-shelf product that can be installed in minutes and eliminates thousands of man hours of work. Furthermore, it is COTS product standardised to meet ISO 9001 quality levels so there is no need for additional third-party inspections during the installation and testing of the system.”

To find out more about Omniflex’s work in the nuclear industry, download its nuclear sector overview for free here: https://www.omniflex.com/pub/downloads/omn261-omniflex-nuclear-monitoring-sector-overview-web.pdf.