“Keyhole surgery” is being used to tackle part of Sellafield’s nuclear clean-up.

Engineers at the west Cumbrian site have begun to remove six deflector plates inside the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS).

This is one of the oldest and most dangerous buildings at Sellafield and the work has started after a year of training, development and trials.

These six plates were originally used to deflect magnox swarf waste, pile fuel cladding and other toxic waste tipped into the building during the Cold War.

They need to be removed so the waste can be lifted out and put into a safer place when retrievals start in 2020.

Gary Snow, who is in charge of the PFCS programme, said: “Removing the plates inside the silo is like keyhole surgery, but on an industrial scale.”

The plates will be carefully cut, using long-reach cutting tools, into 150 pieces through small engineered openings in the side of the building, which has led to the project being dubbed a “metal jigsaw”.

The operators can only see what they are doing using cameras as there is no human access inside the silo.


Gary Snow Mr Snow said: “Each of the deflector plates is about the size of a small car and welded firmly in a place.

“The engineers and operators are faced with the challenge of cutting up this metal jigsaw while also safely maintaining the silo’s sensitive atmosphere which contains argon, an inert gas, to eradicate the risk of fire.”

Using traditional equipment to cut the metal could create sparks so the cutting is done with an innovative abrasive jet, blasting a mixture of water and finely ground stone at the speed of sound to cut through the steel.

This is as an extra safety layer because sparks would not be able to ignite in the argon atmosphere.

After being cut into pieces, the plates will then fall into the silo.

These will then be retrieved, along with the rest of the building’s contents.

Mr Snow also said: “It’s a unique and complex engineering challenge but we have the right people and technology to safely make this key step forward in the decommissioning journey of the building.”