High-integrity process for transferring packages from the receiving area to the storage cells

Construction of the ICEDA activated waste conditioning and storage facility at the Bugey NPP – a temporary storage facility acting as an interface between waste production sites (EDF’s nuclear power plants) and ANDRA’s final disposal facility – is a prerequisite for the effective decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

It will allow the reception, conditioning and storage of all this waste  for a projected period of 50 years. One priority in the project input data was the radiological protection of operators during operation, which is why the facility has been automated.

As part of a consortium, Cegelec CEM was in charge of the high-integrity process for transferring packages from the receiving area to the storage cells, as well as radiological protection and facility confinement:

• Design, manufacture and qualification testing of handling equipment:
  • 8- to 135-tonne overhead travelling cranes with package gripper systems
  • 130-tonne dolly, 40-tonne trolley and roller conveyors
• Leak tight shielded doors and hatches for the containment, weighing 25 to 300 tonnes.
• Electrical, instrumentation and control, and automatic control systems for the whole handling process: design and construction of unique automated electromechanical systems with high reliability (<10-3) for operation in a highly radioactive areas (> 0.5 Gy/h)

The transfer and confinement equipment contribute to the waste conditioning and storage process.

Process automation at ICEDA

As nuclear safety is a priority at ICEDA, the whole process is controlled remotely and via protective screens for the storage and transfer areas.

Cegelec CEM therefore automated all the equipment to make it fully operational from the control room without any need for human intervention.