Location: Sellafield UK

Customer: Bendalls Engineering

Summary

This project involves the design, manufacture, inspection, testing, packaging, and shipping of four Power Fluidic transfer systems and four pulse jet mixing systems (PJM’s) for the Box Encapsulation Plant (BEP) at the UK Sellafield site.

Background

Box Encapsulation Plant will include two vessels (V60502 and V 60511) that require the mixing and transfer of liquid and suspended solids. Power fluidics devices (Reverse Flow Diverter (RFD)) pumps will be utilized to transfer these liquids based on advantages offered by these devices, and power fluidics mixers (Pulse Jet Mixers (PJMs)) will be utilized to provide the mixing function. NVE engineers provided input to the BEP design several years ago.

Project Description

Phase 1 of this project began late in 2015 with an initial requirements development task order. The client had already performed a study on how pulse-jet mixer and reverse flow diverter technology could be integrated into an existing building design. NuVision was asked to verify their proposed process and to provide initial calculations on expected pulse jet mixing and RFD pumping performance.

Phase 2, detailed design, began in 2016 and will be completed in 2018. NuVision is working with Bendalls Engineering, who in-turn are working under contract from the Box Encapsulation Plant Delivery Team (BEPDT). The Box Encapsulation Plant project is a large capital construction project with many design and construction interfaces. NVE are working through the multi-level design approval and documentation management levels and are looking forward to delivering the full system in 2019.

Phase 3, fabricate, test, and delivery, is expected to begin in late 2018. NVE will use local sub-contractors for sub-system assembly, with final integration at NVE’s engineering and test facility in North Carolina. Validation of the performance of the PJM and RFD systems is a major requirement of the project. To achieve this, NVE have built a large-scale Factory Acceptance Test Rig that will reasonably simulate plant conditions in order to provide the most complete verification of system performance prior to final delivery.

Challenges and Solutions

Customer plant configuration requirements did not permit the use of the optimum number of PJM’s for mixing of vessel contents. For a vessel of the BEP size this would be 4 PJM’s. NVE performed a short study to determine the mixing results achieved using the 2 PJM’s desired by the customer. It was established that some solids might collect at the vessel bottom during mixing, but in small quantities. Due to the low-level nature of the waste, the customer determined that there were no unacceptable safety or operational implications and therefore this was acceptable.

Benefits Achieved

• NVE used our expertise and experience in PJM technology to rapidly evaluate implications of customer design constraints and validate customer plant layout
• Provided essential technology for the construction and commissioning of a high integrity facility to mix and pump hazardous radioactive waste
• Resolved technical concerns to facilitate turnkey delivery of plant and equipment to meet demanding customer schedule for overall facility construction and commissioning

Customer Feedback

“NuVision Engineering has a highly experienced customer focused delivery team. Bendalls Engineering selected NuVision based on their unequalled capabilities and experience in delivering PJM based technology to major projects on the Sellafield site”

— Kevin Quirk, BEP Project Manager, Bendalls Engineering