Located close to the Sellafield site, the Fellside Combined Heat and Power Plant raises steam and generates electricity to support Sellafield’s operations.

It recently completed a major project by removing a pair of large obsolete fuel tanks, making way for future builds.

The power plant is a Nuclear Decommissioning Authority asset under Sellafield Ltd’s stewardship.

The plant is fuelled by natural gas but has tanks containing just over 1 million litres of fuel oil for planned outages and other possible disruptions to the gas supply.

These tanks were built to hold 9 million litres of fuel oil and had been standing empty after 3 new, smaller tanks were introduced.

Initial estimates of the cost to remove the tanks and remediate the ground underneath was around £2.3 million. But after discussing the work with partners px Ltd, who manage the steam raising units and electricity generators on the site, a cheaper solution was found.

It took 6 weeks in total, with the video showing (below) the 3 weeks of that time it took to demolish and remove the tanks.

Fellside business support manager Sam Guy said:

The initial estimate had seen the work pushed out to future years, but after px Ltd were asked to engage with small specialist organisations at the start of the year, they identified a more cost-effective way of delivering the task using standard demolition practices.

Head of Fellside Alan Prince said:

This project is one example of many at Fellside, where we have demonstrated that by using an appropriate contracting model to allow engagement with specialists in the supply chain, we can give Sellafield greater value for money and increase our ability to progress at pace.

My thanks go out to all those involved within Sellafield Ltd’s Fellside Client Team and to all those involved within px Ltd and their contractor – Technical Demolition Services.