Written evidence submitted by Magnox Limited (FNP 53)

Executive summary

1.                      Magnox Limited operates three facilities within Wales; Trawsfynydd, Wylfa and the  

Maentwrog hydroelectric plant.

2.                      The Trawsfynydd and Wylfa sites are at different phases in their lifecycles.  At

Trawsfynydd, work is underway to prepare for care and maintenance (C&M). Wylfa is in the process of defueling its reactors. 

3.                                           Magnox and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have been working in

partnership with Welsh government, Gwynedd Council, the Isle of Anglesey County Council and other key stakeholders to take action to help secure a prosperous future for North Wales. 

Magnox Limited

4. Magnox Limited, owned by Cavendish Fluor Partnership (CFP), is the management and operations contractor responsible for decommissioning 12 nuclear sites and operating one hydroelectric plant in the UK, working for the sites’ owner, the NDA.

5. CFP is a joint venture between Cavendish Nuclear (a wholly owned subsidiary of Babcock International Group) and US company Fluor Corporation.

6. Magnox operates three facilities in Wales at Trawsfynydd, Wylfa and the Maentwrog hydroelectric plant.

The Magnox reactors and programme

7. The Magnox reactors programme began in 1955 with the publication of the historic white paper announcing a decision to proceed with a programme of nuclear power station construction in the UK.  Calder Hall came online in 1956 and Wylfa’s two reactors were the last and biggest Magnox reactors to be built. 

8. As they were built, the design of the nuclear reactors evolved significantly, which has added to the complexity of decommissioning them.  During the design, planning and construction of these reactors, how they would be decommissioned wasn’t taken into account, which will not be the case for the nuclear new build plants.

How the decommissioning of Wylfa and Trawsfynydd is being carried out

The Magnox site decommissioning strategy:

9. The Magnox mission is to safely and securely deliver the sites to closure with a workforce:

• focused on delivering value to our customer and the taxpayer,
• motivated to deliver the site closure programmes,
• for whom we will seek to maximise future employment opportunities.

10. The Magnox programme is diverse with differing issues at each site but, in general, the sites transition through the following phases.

• Defueling. Reactors, cooling ponds and fuel cells containing used fuel are emptied of fuel and the fuel is transferred off-site for reprocessing.
• Decommissioning and demolition. Equipment and asbestos are removed and a number of buildings on the site are demolished. Ponds are drained and cleaned and waste is retrieved, packaged and placed in storage.  Note, Wylfa doesn’t have any fuel element debris (FED) waste or ponds.
• Care and maintenance (C&M). The site is maintained in a passively safe and secure state while radiation levels are left to decay naturally.
• Final site clearance (FSC). This is the last stage in a site’s lifecycle with the removal of reactor vessels and the demolition of all other remaining buildings. Sites become declassified as nuclear licensed sites.

11. The Trawsfynydd and Wylfa sites are at different phases in their lifecycles.  At Trawsfynydd, work is underway to prepare for C&M.

12. Wylfa ended generation in December 2015 and will now defuel its reactors.  This phase of work is expected to last around three years.  Following removal of fuel from the site, the site will then move into preparations for the C&M phase.

High hazard reduction

13. Both sites are focussed on prompt high hazard reduction activities.  Wylfa’s defueling programme will result in 99.99% of radioactive material being safely removed from the site for re-processing at Sellafield. At Trawsfynydd, management of remaining high hazard material is linked to the passivation and storage of intermediate level waste (ILW), and the disposal or destruction of other hazardous materials, for example, contaminated oils and asbestos.

14. Both sites utilise the concept of ‘safestore’ buildings.  These are buildings that are retained throughout the C&M quiescent phase in order to benefit from natural radioactive decay.  This greatly reduces:

• the radioactive dose to workers,
• the volume of higher category waste generation,
• the cost. 

Trawsfynydd site

15. Trawsfynydd is a twin reactor nuclear station within Snowdonia National Park and is in the process of being decommissioned.  The site was one of the early Magnox stations and the only truly inland Magnox generating site in the UK.

16. Key facts:

• Construction started 1959.
• Electricity generation 1965 – 1991.
• Lifetime electricity generation output: 70 TWh.
• Defueled by 1995 – all Magnox fuel removed from site.
• The site is in its decommissioning phase. 

Optimised decommissioning

17. The Trawsfynydd site, along with Bradwell in Essex, was one of two Magnox sites selected for accelerated decommissioning back in 2010. Lessons learned at the two sites are progressively being applied across the entire Magnox fleet in a ‘lead and learn approach,’ with the sites achieving C&M status many years earlier than originally expected, whilst making substantial savings for UK taxpayers.

Decommissioning Trawsfynydd

18. At Trawsfynydd a number of radioactive wastes were produced as by-products of generation.

Waste treatment residues

19. Spent Magnox fuel from the reactors was discharged into cooling ponds prior to shipment to Sellafield.  Leakage of contaminated material from the fuel into the cooling ponds occurred.  This resulted in contaminants being present in the pond water, some of which also transferred to the pond structure itself.   The contaminants in the water were treated during generation and this generated radioactive wastes such as sludges from filters and spent ion exchange media from chemical treatment.  These are ILW, which are now being recovered, processed and, where appropriate, packaged as ILW for long term storage within the UK Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).

FED

20. Prior to dispatching spent fuel to Sellafield for reprocessing, parts of the fuel element were removed to increase the packing density of fuel into each transport flask. This process was known as ‘de-splittering’.  This produced FED, which was placed into underground storage vaults on site.  During the decommissioning of the site, this FED will be recovered, processed as ILW and packaged for long term storage (see Figure 1) within the future GDF.

Figure 1: FED at Trawsfynydd before and after packaging

21. The site has made good progress in processing its ILW and has removed all desiccant, recovered and stored all ion exchange media, and is now recovering the final filtration sludges.

Decommissioning wastes

22. Radioactive waste is also produced as part of the decommissioning clean-up operations. Examples of these are:

• Concrete from areas where concrete surfaces have come into contact with radioactive effluents and have become contaminated, for example, concrete surfaces on cooling pond walls (see Figure 2).
• 
  Contaminated redundant plant removed as part of the site’s decommissioning activities, for example, legacy pipework, storage vessels and process plant associated with the site’s effluent systems.

Figure 2: Cooling ponds at Trawsfynydd before and during remediation

Care and maintenance

23. In order to prepare the site to enter its C&M phase (late 2020s-2083), a number of buildings will be designated as ‘safestores’.  For Trawsfynydd, examples of the types of safestore buildings include the reactor buildings and the site ILW Store.  

24. 
    
    The reactor buildings require extensive modification in order to make them suitable as safestores for the period through to FSC.  An example of the type of the work which needs to be undertaken is the height reduction, which involves the removal of approximately 50% of the overall above ground structure and installation of a new weather “envelope” to protect the remaining building. The proposed shape of the Trawsfynydd reactor safestore cladding for the C&M phase is significantly different to that which will be deployed at other Magnox sites and is depicted below.

Figure 3: Site configuration currently and as anticipated at C&M entry state

Key milestones

25. Cavendish Fluor Partnership (CFP) became the Parent Body Organisation (PBO) responsible for managing Magnox Limited in September 2014. As part of the process for taking over the running of Magnox Limited, a review of the progress of the decommissioning work is being completed at each of the 12 Magnox Limited sites. These reviews are expected to complete by the end of March 2016 and will inform the revision of the Lifetime Plans.

26. The key milestones and dates are:

2017-22 – Completion of key hazard reduction activities

2027-29 – Site enters care and maintenance

2074 – Final site clearance commences

2083 – Final site clearance achieved

Wylfa site

27. Construction at Wylfa, located on the north coast of Anglesey, started in 1962 with generation from this, the last and largest Magnox plant, commencing in January 1971.

28. After nearly 45 years Wylfa Nuclear Power Station ceased generation on 30 December 2015, marking the conclusion of Magnox reactor generation in the UK.

Figure 4: Wylfa site

29. Key facts:

• During its generating life Wylfa produced 232 terawatt-hours of electricity.
• The site is now in the defueling phase.
• Wylfa consists of two large graphite reactor cores. Each core sits within a massive pre-stressed concrete pressure vessel.
• The boilers at Wylfa were inside the pre-stressed concrete pressure vessel (see Figure 5).
• Fuel elements removed from the reactors at Wylfa are cooled onsite in dry cells, a unique approach, before they are transported to Sellafield.

Defueling Wylfa

30. There are currently around 88,000 fuel elements which will need to be shipped in flasks to Sellafield for reprocessing.  Each flask contains around 150 elements.

31. The programme of work to defuel Wylfa is scheduled to take three years.  This work will require 377 full time employees at the start of the programme which will reduce to around 300 during the three year period. The workforce is expected to drop to around 150 staff at the end of the defueling period.

32. During this defueling period other hazards will be removed from the site such as the carbon dioxide coolant, which is an asphixiant, bulk chemicals and oils. The plant is gradually shutdown in a controlled way to ensure that control is retained over the plant configuration.

33. Spent fuel at Wylfa is placed in a ‘dry store cell,’ which essentially consists of a vessel with a series of closed standpipes into which the spent fuel is loaded from the reactor (see Figure 5). The fuel in the ‘dry store cell’ is cooled with CO2 during operations. Wylfa has three ‘primary dry store cells’ and two secondary store cells.  

34. Storage of fuel in dry store cells during operations meant that:

• there was no need to discharge any significant radioactive liquor and there was no need to use significant amount of chemical resins to filter the radioactivity,
• there were no chemical reactions occurring leading to major contamination of concrete surfaces.

Decommissioning Wylfa

35. The decommissioning work at Wylfa will commence after the completion of the defueling phase and is scheduled for completion by 2026.
36. 
    This reflects a shorter decommissioning duration than any other Magnox site and is largely due to the fact that Wylfa has a different plant design and because there is no FED or resins associated with a pond to retrieve and ultimately dispose of.

04 March 2016

Figure 5: Illustration of the Wylfa power station

What the economic impact of the decommissioning of Trawsfynydd will be

37. Over the last five years, the NDA and Magnox have been working in partnership with Welsh government, Gwynedd Council and the Isle of Anglesey County Council to take action to help secure a prosperous future for North Wales.  Since 2005, around £7 million of NDA and Magnox socio-economic funding has helped to leverage approximately £39 million of externally matched funding for projects in North Wales.

38. As the Trawsfynydd site moves towards C&M there will be a direct impact on the number of jobs available in the area and an indirect impact on the local supply chain and businesses around our sites.  Magnox is proactively working with Gwynedd Council, who are responsible for economic development in the area, and is providing information to them as part of their recently commissioned work to assess the economic impact of the entry of Trawsfynydd site into C&M.

The Trawsfynydd resource profile

39. Work is underway to review the site programme and the decommissioning work, which will influence the future resourcing profile for Trawsfynydd.

40. As Trawsfynydd’ s decommissioning programme progresses there will be variations in the skills and numbers of people required and, as projects complete, the workforce numbers will reduce.

41. Our workforce numbers this year will reduce from around 300 to something closer to 250, in line with our previously announced workforce restructuring (May 2015).  Thereafter further reductions will occur and from 2021 onwards we expect numbers to reduce below 100. 

Mitigating the impact of decommissioning

42. Magnox has a number of transition and support mechanisms in place to mitigate the impact of the reducing workforce profile across North Wales.

43. These include:

• Replacing contractors with Magnox employees. Magnox places emphasis on securing work for permanent employees. Where it is appropriate and possible to displace agency or contractors this is undertaken. Magnox recognises that there are some specialist skills which will always require agency or contractors to fulfil.
• Transferring Wylfa staff to Trawsfynydd.  Our approach is to look at the resource requirements across both sites and, where possible, to look at redeployment and reskilling opportunities for staff between the two sites. 
• Reskilling and redeployment. Where appropriate and possible, we look at opportunities to reskill and retrain staff members to enable them to take up other roles at Trawsfynydd.  In addition, for those staff willing to work at other Magnox sites, we actively seek out opportunities for staff to reskill into new roles and/or redeploy to roles at other Magnox sites.
• Parent redeployment offer. We are also looking at providing opportunities in the parent body organisations (Cavendish Nuclear and Fluor businesses) to re-deploy Magnox staff into if they wish. Where opportunities arise at the parent organisation’s sites or customer sites, applications from staff at nearby Magnox sites is encouraged.
• Outplacement support. This support is facilitated by a specialist third party, Penna, to all staff that are being transitioned.  The support includes advice and guidance in a range of areas including CV writing and interview coaching.
• Training allowance.  Every staff member being transitioned has access to £1,500 which can be used for courses to enable them to re-train, re-skill or support their development in preparation for a new role or career.
• Managed transfers. Magnox has in place protocols with other organisations including EDF, Jacobs and Amec Foster Wheeler to support the sharing and transition of staff between organisations when opportunities arise.
• Well publicised programmes. The eventual closure of all the Magnox sites is not new news and the programmes which drive the sites to closure are well communicated and publicised.  This helps ensure that staff have sufficient notice to plan for their futures.
• Collaborative working. The Magnox Task Force, comprising Welsh Government, the NDA, Magnox, Gwynedd Council, Anglesey County Council and other key stakeholders, was set up in autumn 2015. The group’s aim is to ensure that the highly skilled workforce is afforded support to maintain sustainable and long term employment in Wales.

The Magnox socio-economic strategy and socio-economic scheme

44. Whilst not directly accountable for regeneration in the areas around our sites, Magnox recognises the important role it plays in supporting the communities and partner agencies to develop plans and deliver initiatives which help mitigate the impact of decommissioning the sites. 

45. This commitment is reflected in both the draft Magnox Socio-economic Strategy 2016-18, which was recently published for consultation, and through the Magnox socio-economic scheme.

46. In the Magnox Socio-economic Strategy, and in line with the NDA’s geographical priorities, Trawsfynydd has been identified as a high priority site.

47. The Magnox Socio-economic Strategy focuses on the NDA’s thematic principles:

• Employment - with a  preference for higher value job creation
• Education / skills - both to support decommissioning and clean-up and diversification into other sectors
• Economic and social infrastructure
• Economic diversification
• Diversification into other industries and sector - including support for the local supply chain

48. Through the Magnox socio-economic scheme, Magnox, CFP and the NDA work together to manage a funding portfolio of up to £1million each financial year.

Since 2012, £1,398,425 Magnox socio-economic scheme funding has been invested in socio-economic projects in North Wales. 

Local supply chain

49. Magnox recognises that as the Trawsfynydd site, and all our sites across the UK, moves towards C&M there will be an indirect impact on the local supply chain and businesses around our sites.  In response to this, Magnox is actively working with the local supply chain in North Wales, and across its 12 sites, to understand the issues facing them.

50. Magnox’s engagement with the local supply chain:

• The Government has mandated that all Government departments and arms-length bodies, including Magnox, must develop appropriate policies to support Small-Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Magnox is actively working with the local supply chain in North Wales, and across its 12 sites, to understand the issues facing them. The target of 30% of Magnox’s supply chain spend, either directly or through our tier 2 supply chain partners, to be awarded to SMEs also applies to our sites in North Wales.
• The Magnox Socio-economic Plan (currently in draft) includes a target to establish and deliver a supply chain transformation programme, to improve the visibility and accessibility of supply chain opportunities to the local SME community. 
• Magnox has signed the NDA’s Supply Chain Charter for nuclear decommissioning contractors.
• Magnox proactively takes part in the NDA’s SME steering groups, including the group in North Wales.