When it comes to decommissioning our legacy facilities,
having the right information is vital. We have drawings and
data sheets, but often these are out of date and could be
misleading.
Site walk-arounds and up-to-date measurements are vital,
but what if you can’t access the site you’re working on?
That was the problem facing the team working on our iconic
“golf ball” facility, the Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled
Reactor.
They were due to have just such a walk-around at the end of
March, but had to cancel it when the nationwide lockdown
hit. With the team needing accurate information to work
from home, they hit on a novel solution to getting it.
A full scanning team couldn’t gain access to the site, but
there were people going in for routine maintenance. The
question was – could they do the work and get the detail
needed?
And the answer was – yes, with partners from our
Decommissioning Delivery Partnership (DDP) coming
together to develop a solution.
Darren Grears from Atkins Global explained:
We decided to capture data using 2 devices – a handheld
laser scanner and a 360-degree camera.
The scanner can get information up to about 10mm accuracy
and is capable of scanning a 3 storey car park in less
than 30 minutes. The camera can capture images to
simulate a walk-around.
Working with specially-developed user guides, a maintenance
team completed the scans and video during an inspection in
March, taking 116 images and performing 2 laser scans of
the entire building in under 2 hours.
The scans and footage gathered will now be used to guide
the removal, cleaning and painting of cladding from the
building, which will extend its life and ensure it is safe.
Darren added:
This is about ‘bringing the site home’. Before we can do
any work, we need to identify the location of services
and assets, look at potential areas for the temporary
work enclosure, determine distances between adjacent
buildings, scope out space for crane access and generally
make sure the access is sufficient.
This will all feed into the concept design for the
project and the type of temporary works enclosure
required.
DDP Programme
Manager Simon Martin said:
This has been a great example of people coming together
to find a solution in a time of change and uncertainty.
By engaging with our partners in the supply chain we were
able to find a solution which has put the project back on
track.
