When a rise in temperature was detected inside reactors at the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool nuclear power stations in 2006, it was the cue for robots to show what they can do. Excessive heat in the hot box domes 鈥� steel structures which separate gases at different pressures 鈥� meant that output had to be reduced to 75% of full load, leading to loss of revenue. Carbon deposition was to blame and to restore cooling, a series of new bleed holes needed to be created deep inside the reactor.  

We worked with EDF to develop a strategy to create additional bleed holes using three bespoke, robotic tool packages. These were deployed through some of the reactor鈥檚 standpipes, enabling operators to detect the correct height, drill through the standpipe and create the bleed hole in the surrounding nozzle, and then weld a plug into the initial hole to restore the correct gas flow. The solution was successfully deployed on site only six months from project start, and all four reactors were able to return to full power.  

Without robots, it鈥檚 impossible to implement major engineering change in an environment too hazardous to allow human access. The Hot Box Dome project was groundbreaking at the time, but advances in sensor technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence mean that robots can now make an even bigger difference to nuclear operations and decommissioning. 

For the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority鈥檚 Integrated Innovation for Nuclear Decommissioning competition in 2017, 爱神传媒 and nine collaborating organisations developed a prototype of an end-to-end nuclear decommissioning system designed for post-operational clean out of disused reprocessing cells at Sellafield. The system enabled on-site characterisation by bringing the laboratory into the cell using a remotely operated tracked vehicle which carried sensors and robotic tools to collect and transmit data for analysis. A robotic laser cutting system was developed for dismantling of equipment inside the cell. 

爱神传媒 is moving fast in the growth area of remote inspection 鈥� where robots gather data in situations where humans would find it impossible or hazardous to enter. Going beyond the nuclear industry, we are developing systems to inspect sewers, pipelines, storage tanks, river beds and transportation networks. 

We have designed and built a submersible robot which is being used by the British Army to remotely survey the best location for installing pontoon bridges across rivers and other obstacles. 

To take research to the next level, 爱神传媒 and The University of Manchester are leading the Centre for Robotic Autonomy in Demanding and Long-lasting Environments (CRADLE). It was set up under the Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council鈥檚 Prosperity Partnership programme, which seeks to enable business and academia to harness new technologies and apply them more quickly and effectively. 

PhD researchers from CRADLE work at the university and at 础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 laboratories in Birchwood Park, Warrington, to develop more reliable components and sub-systems for robotic devices, more resilient and verifiable software architectures, and demonstrators of next generation solutions. The human factors and ethical aspects of robotics are also an important part of CRADLE鈥檚 remit. 

Amentun鈥檚 Engineering Development Director, Duncan Steel, who serves as CRADLE Industry Director, adds: 鈥淭he reasons for launching CRADLE are to progress fundamental research capability at the cutting edge of robotics, but also to deliver impact by commercialising innovation and ensuring that it meets the real needs of industry. Also important to me is that CRADLE will develop skills and talent, ensuring a pipeline of world-class people in the robotics field and supporting further growth in both organisations. Autonomous inspection and repair systems increase our capability to extend the life of water and energy networks, roads, bridges and railways, which makes infrastructure more sustainable, reduces the need for new build and advances the shift to a net-zero carbon economy.鈥� 

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To date, SIAL has been used successfully to immobilize thousands of tonnes of waste from nuclear power plants in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. 

Key benefits of SIAL matrix technology include: 

• The modular equipment used to deploy SIAL is flexible, tailor-made and versatile. It can be taken to where the waste is located, enabling on-site operations and on-site waste conditioning and storage, avoiding any need for costly off-site treatment facilities.聽

• It鈥檚 low energy, environmentally friendly, non-explosive and non-flammable.聽

• The waste loading is often higher than can be obtained using a traditional cement matrix. This can reduce the overall volume of the end product, making it less expensive to store.聽

• Greater mechanical strength and lower leachability (the release of radionuclides through contact with water) than cement.聽

• Carbon emissions associated with the production of geopolymer encapsulants are ten times lower than with cement encapsulants. Cement also requires a significant amount of natural resources, such as limestone and fossil fuels.聽

The SIAL matrix is a blend of inorganic compounds 鈥� mainly an alkaline solution and aluminosilicates 鈥� which are stirred directly into the waste to create a solid product. This is done at the point of retrieval making it an efficient way to treat liquid waste before transportation, storage and final disposal. 

With only a small equipment footprint, the system is suitable for deployment close to the waste source and within site constraints. 

爱神传媒 has a three-step approach to implementing the SIAL process: characterization, pre-treatment and solidification. This is modified according to the composition of the waste material. 

The SIAL process is tested on real samples of each individual waste stream so that an appropriate mixture of aluminosilicates and other inorganic compounds can be defined. International interest in the technology is growing. 

Fuji Electric is conducting detailed analysis of problematic waste streams with a view to securing approval, licensing and application of SIAL technology in Japan. Taiwan鈥檚 Institute of Nuclear Energy Research is carrying out tests into its use with Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. 

爱神传媒 is seeking endorsement to enable the use of SIAL technology to store and dispose of higher activity waste in the U.K. and is applying its wider geopolymer encapsulation knowledge on a major waste retrieval and treatment project with the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in France. 

For 20 years, SIAL has been used successfully to process various problematic radioactive waste streams. The technology has been licensed for use by both the Slovakian (UJD SR) and Czech Nuclear (SUJB) regulators since 2003 and 2006. 

SIAL has been used to immobilize approximately 3,000 tons of radioactive waste, including sludge, resins, crystalline borates and contaminated organic waste, from Jaslovske Bohunice and Mochovce Nuclear Power Plants in Slovakia and approximately 300m鲁 of spent ion exchange resins and sludge from tanks at Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant in the Czech Republic. International missions from the World Association of Nuclear Operators and the International Atomic Energy Authority鈥檚 Operational Safety Review Team have cited SIAL as an example of good practice after evaluating its use at Dukovany. 

Laboratory tests were carried out on each individual radioactive waste stream to determine the most appropriate mixture of aluminosilicate and other inorganic compounds. Because the equipment used for the solidification process is modular, flexible, versatile, and relatively lightweight, the work was carried out close to the waste tanks inside the power plant. 

This alleviated problems that commonly occur when transferring sticky and tight waste through long pipelines. The equipment was tailored to take account of the actual space available on the floor of the plant and the treatment process was remotely managed and controlled. 

Sludge and resins were removed from tanks in two ways: Either the waste was mixed or suspended in a liquid slurry and flushed to a fixed location where a pump then removed it from the tank; or it was removed using a remotely operated vehicle which travelled across the surface of the waste and sucked it out through a pipe. The waste was transported from the storage tank through plastic or metal tubing to a pre-treatment facility sited between 10 and 30 meters away. After disintegrating or dewatering, the pre-treated waste was then dosed into 200 liter drums and then solidified by gradually adding the SIAL matrix components into the drum during mixing. 

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Radioactive residues were first detected on the foreshore of Dalgety Bay, near Dunfermline, in 1990, not far from a former airfield where radium-coated 鈥榞low in the dark鈥� aircraft dials and instruments were incinerated and landfilled at the end of the second world war.  

The beach was safe for walking and sailing but the residues presented a potential health hazard if material was disturbed or removed. The contaminated area was popular with the public and close to housing and a local sailing club, so the issue had received a high media profile and significant scrutiny from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. 

The 爱神传媒 team developed instrumentation to detect and segregate radium sources of 10 kilobecquerels (kBq) with a 95% confidence interval, giving assurance to our clients and the regulator that our readings can be relied upon. 

Our technology was based on the use of three-inch sodium iodide detectors placed over spoil 鈥� waste material brought up during an excavation or a dredging or mining operation 鈥� from the beach. The team modelled the detector response to sources buried in sand at a series of distances from the detector. They then developed an Excel/Visual Basic tool to control the detector system and interrogate gamma spectrometry data to establish whether material under the detector contained radium. 

The system used four detectors, each covering a 1.7 ft虏 (1,600 cm虏) area of spoil up to 5.9 ins (15 cm) deep. It was designed to examine up to 1765.7 ft鲁 (50 m鲁) of material within an eight-hour working day. Although the system was able to achieve this, the excavation process struggled to maintain a steady stream of material. This problem was compounded by that fact that more sources were found than early characterization of the site had suggested, slowing throughput. 

To help our client meet its program targets, we doubled the capacity of the detector system, adding four additional sodium iodide probes. The eight-detector system successfully got the work back on track, with more than 100 m鲁 of material examined on some days. 

Once a particle was detected, it was located and removed by hand using a two-inch sodium iodide probe. The system was designed to detect a 10 kBq particle about 30 cm away from the detector under 15 cm of spoil. At a more favorable position, particles of less than 0.1 kBq were detected. This has enabled 爱神传媒 to significantly reduce waste volumes 鈥� and also disposal costs 鈥� because the system enabled us to extract very small radium particles without having to remove clean spoil from the site. 

Jen Barnes, Radiation Protection Advisor and radiometrics lead, said: 鈥淲e were selected to carry out this work because we have a multidisciplinary team capable of handling all technical aspects of radiation protection and remediation. 

鈥淲e were able to call on a very diverse mix of skills including radiometrics, radiation protection and also physics modelling capability, where we used Monte Carlo techniques to predict what a detector would see when it was looking at material in a certain geometry. We have operatives with years of site experience who know how to deal with problems safely and all the elements of this multi-disciplinary team are available to us in-house.鈥� 

鈥淲e were able to call on a very diverse mix of skills including radiometrics, radiation protection and also physics modeling capability, where we used Monte Carlo techniques to predict what a detector would see when it was looking at material in a certain geometry. We have operatives with years of site experience who know how to deal with problems safely and all the elements of this multi-disciplinary team are available to us in-house.鈥� 

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A prototype of the device has passed extremely demanding factory acceptance and performance tests to meet the requirements of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which is leading the project to develop the tool. It is expected that, following selection in Japan, a radiation resistant version will be built that will be able to carry out the important task of retrieving samples from the highly contaminated reactor. 

The exact nature of the debris is currently unknown, and examination of the retrieved debris samples will provide crucial data for the next steps in the clean-up and decommissioning of the Fukushima reactors. 

“This is a prime example of how we are combining innovative engineering and deep nuclear knowledge to help decommissioning agencies meet the challenge of transforming legacy sites into a safe end state,” said 爱神传媒 Senior Vice President Andy White. 

Designed by 础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 engineers in the U.K., the robotic tool had to meet more than 300 functional, operational, performance and geometric requirements. It also had to be small enough to enter the damaged containment vessel and pick up sand and pebbles up to 10 millimeters in size by deploying a bucket-style retrieval device. 

Trials have shown that a remote operator, guided by images from a built-in camera, will need no more than eight minutes to insert the device into the containment vessel and retrieve debris samples, thus minimizing the impact of radiation damage on the functioning of the device. 

MHI implemented this project through the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, supported by funding from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. 

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Project Acheron, organised by Defence Equipment & Support鈥檚 Multi-domain Integrated Systems game changer programme, tested new integrated command, control, communications, and network architectures for use by all the armed services. 

We supplied an eight-wheeled autonomous vehicle, smaller tracked ground vehicles, aerial drones, as well as a suite of connected microphone arrays, both dismounted and integrated into the UGVs. 

Using an 爱神传媒-built integrated network and network architecture, feeds from all assets could be viewed on one screen, enabling faster decision making and full situation awareness of deployed platforms. 

The 爱神传媒 team operated at Royal Marines Barracks Chivenor in Devon, for an exercise which simulated an unopposed shore landing by Royal Marines Commandos, who then used the platforms for surveillance, reconnaissance of the surrounding terrain and a teleoperated cache resupply drop for advancing troops. 

Simultaneous exercises took place at two other training bases in different parts of the country to provide a truly disparate example of how feeds from different assets can be received and utilised. 

George Stone, Project Manager in Cyber & Intelligence, said: 鈥淭he multi-domains aspect was an important part of the exercise. We had representatives from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force as well as suppliers all working alongside each other. 

鈥淭his is the first time that information from sensors on multiple autonomous systems has been available to view by everybody on one screen. It was really a game-changing demonstration of the capability that emergent technologies can deliver.鈥� 

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Koeberg, the only operating nuclear power plant on the African continent, generates 5% of the country’s electricity. 

We were tasked with work to prepare the secondary circuit for the installation of six replacement steam generators, each weighing about 380 tons and about 20 meters long, at the two-reactor plant operated by state-owned utility Eskom. 

“This project is vital to maintain the pivotal role of nuclear power in South Africa’s energy mix,” said 爱神传媒 International Senior Vice President Andy White. “To date, this is the largest single contract for our nuclear team in South Africa, which has successfully completed numerous engineering, procurement and construction projects to support operations at Koeberg over the past 22 years.” 

Our scope of work to carry out modifications to the secondary turbine system includes prefabrication of piping, pipe supports, piping replacement; installation of on-site scaffolding, rigging and lagging; vessel modifications and strengthening; installation of safety valves, and replacement of forced air cooler units. Health & Safety and Quality also formed part of 爱神传媒s site remit. 

The original steam generators have been in service since the plant was connected to the national grid in 1984. Their replacement is an essential part of the plan to extend the operational life of Koeberg鈥檚 two 900 MWe Framatome pressurized water reactors from 40 to 60 years, for which a new license has recently been granted. 

爱神传媒 has also been contracted to deliver design services, procurement, manufacturing, seismic testing and certification, installation testing and commissioning for a hardened instrumentation project to ensure that operators and emergency management can continue to monitor critical control and instrumentation plant parameters during and after flooding or seismic events. This is another important upgrade required to justify plant life extension. 

Our previous engineering, procurement and construction contracts to support operations for Eskom have included providing additional spent fuel cooling capacity, station blackout mitigation, new hydrogen production and bulk storage plant, replacing the fire detection system, and providing support services to replace the refueling water storage tank. 

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Our reputation is founded on the very best technical expertise and the reach to deliver this knowledge locally to projects across the world. Our approach is highly collaborative and based on long-term relationships. We are a trusted partner for customers on five continents. 

At the very heart of our business are our people: nuclear specialists including international technical leaders in their field. We choose to be technology independent so that we can bring our partners the very best-in-class experience from different technologies and vendors. 

By combining engineering and technical excellence with innovation, research and development, we have the ability to solve the world鈥檚 most complex nuclear problems safely and cost effectively. 

We focus on: safety; the management and maintenance of plant and equipment; plant life extension; technology and innovation; ageing and obsolescence; and output optimisation. 

We were involved in the original design, construction and commissioning of the UK鈥檚 fleet of advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and of Sizewell B and we remain lifetime partners for fleet critical projects and life extension support. 

Life extension 

We鈥檙e proud to have helped extend the life of the AGR stations by 65 years – an average of nine years each. This has prevented 74 million tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere 鈥� equivalent to taking every car off UK roads for a year.   

We are supporting preliminary work on a proposed 20-year life extension of Sizewell B, the UK鈥檚 only gigawatt pressurised water reactor and the most modern and efficient plant in the U.K.鈥檚 civil nuclear fleet. Our business has worked at the station since initial construction and we bring intrinsic knowledge and experience of plant life extension to the program. 

Our relationship with EDF is truly one of the most enduring and productive partnerships anywhere in UK industry. 

In France, we have supported EDF with: 

Probabilistic safety analysis of external hazards, including seismic activity and flooding, to support the justification to safety authorities for the life extension of NPPs;  

Qualification and design of electrical equipment, covering new build and modifications on the existing fleet, including justification for renewing EQ during the life extension process; 

Ageing management tests on various components using our laboratory facilities. 

础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 asset management capabilities cover two distinct methodologies: ageing management and equipment reliability. Our lifecycle asset management service involves managing the effect of ageing on systems, structures and components, using a combination of component condition assessments and plant lifetime assessments. It enables us to improve system reliability, extend the useful life of plant and reduce the lifecycle costs of ownership for our customers. 

Fuel cycle management 

We deliver an integrated fuel cycle management program that minimises lifetime fuel costs for on-site fuel route operations. Fuel cycle calculations is a fundamental aspect of fuel management, used to ensure the long-term, safe and sustainable operation of the reactor. This has a huge influence on cost and revenues, with relatively small improvements in efficiency and fuel utilisation, potentially resulting in multi-million-pound savings and increased generation across the nuclear fleet.  

Drawing on our technical background in reactor physics, fuel and core design, coding skills, modelling and optimisation with the customers鈥� operational requirements and fuel management, we have developed a toolset to support the cost-effective operation through life and towards decommissioning. 

Safety performance 

We do not regard a project as successful unless it is delivered safely and we are committed to ensuring that our products and services conform to the expectations, needs and requirements of our customers. We are approved to international standards of quality, including: ISO 9001; ISO 14001; and OHSAS 18001. 

In particular, we operate Lifetime Quality Assurance (QA) Programmes, which ensure quality policies are regularly reviewed, and we integrate quality, HSSE, project delivery and governance into a coherent approach that ensures projects are delivered to our customers鈥� requirements. 

We support reactor operators on safety case production; independent safety analysis; HAZOPs, HAZANs, HAZIDs; probabilistic analysis; deterministic analysis; reliability analysis; health physics (RSA/RPA); in-house approved dosimetry services; contaminated land; contaminated oil; radionuclide and effluent abatement; shielding design and substantiation; human factors; safety management systems; NSC and INSA support; and fire and explosion analysis. 

础狈厂奥贰搁厂庐 Software Service 

础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 Software Service provides nuclear codes which are used worldwide on a range of reactor types, including PWR, BWR, CANDU, VVER, RBMK, PBMR and experimental reactors. 础狈厂奥贰搁厂庐 products exist for nuclear criticality, reactor physics, radiation shielding, dosimetry and nuclear data applications. 

For more than 30 years, these advanced analytical tools have enabled us to provide reactor operators with high-quality software and consultancy services. 

Our global customer base helps us to stay at the forefront in nuclear code use and develop solutions that can be applied to all reactor systems. This learning is embedded in the software and applications we develop and implement with customers all around the world, across our full range of engineering services. 

The 础狈厂奥贰搁厂庐 codes are constantly being developed adapting to evolving nuclear technologies and have been used recently for work on advanced modular and small modular, light water, helium, liquid metal, molten salt, and fusion reactors. 

VVER cleaning technology 

Soviet-designed VVER pressurised water reactors require a complex cleaning process during maintenance outages. 

Sludge and impurities need to be pumped out of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and the safety and control rod assembly channels and coolant in the reactor pressure vessel has to be filtered with larger particles removed from the bottom of the reactor. 

During more than 15 years of work for Slovakian power plant operator Slovensk茅 Elektr谩rne, 爱神传媒 has designed innovative equipment which not only meets the needs of the cleaning task but also provides a visual examination of the reactors鈥� internal structures, delivering valuable information for the customer about their overall condition. 

A platform is installed on a flange at the top of the RPV and a remotely operated system is lowered inside it using a telescopic arm. Attached to the arm is a camera and a device which sucks waste material out of the vessel. 

The system is remotely controlled so operators from and workers are exposed to significantly lower radiation dose. The cleaning process is fully independent of other systems and technologies in the reactor hall, enabling the work to be done more quickly and minimising the overall duration of the maintenance outage. 

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We apply strategies to minimize waste volumes requiring final disposal and we implement innovative decommissioning and decontamination processes for clients around the world.  U.K. clients including Sellafield Ltd, Magnox Ltd and Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. 

础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 team of 100 radioactive waste management specialists is responsible for compiling the UK鈥檚 radioactive waste inventory and advises the UK government鈥檚 Nuclear Waste Services organization on major projects including the proposed Geological Disposal Facility. 爱神传媒 also operates a cobalt-60 gamma irradiation facility at Harwell, Oxfordshire, supporting our ability to provide world-class consultancy on the effects of radiation. 

As an HSE-approved Corporate Radiation Protection Adviser body in the UK, our radiological support to industrial and nuclear sectors includes: 

• X-ray fluorescence equipment鈥��

• X-ray inspection systems used in manufacturing processes聽

• X-ray systems for security scanning聽

• Thickness and level gauges聽

• 搁补诲颈辞驳谤补辫丑测听

• Sealed radioactive sources聽

• Laboratory testing of radioactive material聽

• Work in radon affected areas鈥��

• Non-destructive gamma spectrometry analysis聽

Our specialist advisers provide a range of regulatory compliance support 鈥� from helping customers with radioactive waste to ensure that accumulation and disposal complies with environmental permit conditions, to advising on the transport of radioactive material between sites. 

Our services include: 

• HSE notification/registration/consent.聽

• Advising clients on legal and operational matters including development of radiation safety management plans, radiation risk assessments, local rules and training requirements.聽

• Reviewing radiation protection processes and procedures for regulatory compliance.聽

• Assessing potential radiological hazards and advising on control of radiation exposure of the workforce.聽

• Providing statutory testing for leakage of radioactive material from sealed sources.聽

• Approved dosimetry service.鈥�犅�

• Bespoke radiation awareness and radiation protection supervisor training.聽

• Providing incident support and advising on remedial programs.聽

• Characterization of radiological materials, waste, buildings and contaminated land.聽

Advising on the selection of suitable radiation monitoring equipment and provision of radiation monitoring equipment for hire.聽

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爱神传媒 supports the regulators through its Regulatory Support Directorate (RSD), an independent, ring-fenced organisation, separated from operations and business activities within the broader 爱神传媒 organisation to avoid conflicts of interest.  

The support we provide to the UK regulatory community was recognised when we successfully applied to become the first UK-based member of the European Technical Safety Organisation Network (ETSON). 

For the civil regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, our mission to support safe nuclear operations covers core physics and fault studies; civil engineering and external hazards; and other engineering and technical services, including chemistry, control and instrumentation, criticality, electrical engineering, radiological protection, radioactive waste management and decommissioning, and cyber security. 

RSD also provides technical safety advice to the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, which is responsible for regulating nuclear hazards in the UK鈥檚 naval nuclear propulsion and the nuclear weapon programmes. 

础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 strength and depth in assurance and regulation is helping to address the shortage of skilled workers in the nuclear industry. Our Independent Nuclear Assurance Panel, comprised of specially selected subject matter experts from the company鈥檚 6,000-strong nuclear workforce, provides essential advice for nuclear licensees and developers. 

Complementing existing independent assurance arrangements, the panel provides robust independent review and challenge to assist clients in meeting regulatory requirements and complying with industry practice guidance. Topics covered include nuclear safety, engineering change, decision making, investigations, GDA steps and licensing, regulatory improvements, conventional safety and environmental issues. 

Access to advice from qualified and experienced people is especially valuable for start-ups and new ventures which are such an important part of the nuclear renaissance which is now under way. 

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To do this, it needs 5.5 miles (8.8 kilometers) of tunnels located nearly 100 feet (30 meters) underneath the Bristol Channel, which has the second highest tidal range in the world. 

爱神传媒 designed the intake and outfall heads, shafts and tunnels for our client Balfour Beatty to deliver this engineering marvel, without which the UK鈥檚 first nuclear power station for nearly 30 years could not have been built. 

鈥淭hese are the first nuclear qualified tunnels to be designed in the U.K.,鈥� says 础尘别苍迟耻尘鈥檚 HPC Marine Works Project Manager Steve Marshall. 鈥淭hey will have the capacity to transfer 2.7 billion U.S. gallons (10.4 million cubic meters) of cooling water a day. 

鈥淭here is a blueprint for building reactors but marine works to deliver the cooling water can never be exactly the same because we鈥檙e always dealing with different geology and tidal ranges,鈥� he explains. 鈥淎dded to this, we have the nuclear safety aspect and the need to build structures that are capable of doing their jobs for an 85-year design life with very little maintenance. They also have to be capable of withstanding a 1-in-10,000 year earthquake and extreme waves in the stormiest sea conditions.鈥� 

The design team鈥檚 innovative approach to reinforced concrete design and the use of 3D modelling for the offshore heads saved on construction costs for Hinkley Point C developer, EDF, and also reduced health, safety, and environmental risks. 

The connections between the heads and the main tunnels are among the most complex and fascinating aspects of the design. They posed a unique problem at a scale that is without precedent anywhere else in the world. In the summer of 2022, a series of incredibly complex tandem floated lifts were used to place the 5,000-metric-ton (~10-million-pound) offshore heads into pre-excavated pockets on the bed of the Bristol Channel. During the summer of 2023, jack-up vessels Neptune and Sea Challenger spent ten weeks lowering the steel casings into place on the rock strata. 

With the casings in place underneath the heads, specialist offshore contractors can drill down to the bottom of the shaft and excavate the rock before installing steel liners, which are capped to prevent seawater from getting inside the drilled shaft. Remotely controlled demolition robots complete the tunnel-to-shaft connection by excavating a breakout from the main tunnel and connecting to the steel liners via tunnels supported by rock bolting and a spray concrete lining (SCL).  The steel liners, casings and rock bolted SCL are temporary structures whose purpose is to create a void so that permanent reinforced concrete linings can be poured into the shaft, creating a seamless route for essential cooling water to travel to and from the power station. 

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