TheBeaconMagazinev2

Summer Issue 2016 | amecfw.com
The magazine for our global nuclear customers
ITER: FROM
DREAM TO REALITY
Amec Foster Wheeler steps up to new role at world’s most
ambitious energy project
Customers
Performance
People
EDF’s Andy Goddard
on life extensions for
the UK’s AGR fleet
Page 10
Amec Foster Wheeler is
uniquely placed for North
Sea decommissioning
Page 18
Nuclear corrosion
expert honoured with
top award
Page 22

Summer Issue 2016 | amecfw.com
The magazine for our global nuclear customers
Customers
EDF’s Andy Goddard
on life extensions for
the UK’s AGR fleet
Page 10
Performance People
Amec Foster Wheeler is Nuclear corrosion
uniquely placed for North expert honoured with
Sea decommissioning top award
Page 18
Page 22
CONTENTS
NEWS
SIAL trial marks growing role at Fukushima 03
Radiating confidence in world-class facility 04
Subs advice for MOD 04
New CEO for Amec Foster Wheeler 04
Putting it all together to make fusion happen 05
Stepping stone to new world of energy 05
20 years of support to ITER 05
First UK member of ETSON 06
Praise for key report on radioactive waste 06
Agreement signed with Chinese reactor builder 06
Statistics have extreme value for Candu operators 07
Research contracts to tackle decom challenge 08
US nuclear plants seek bold ways to cut costs 08
Port Granby clean up gets under way 09
07
INTERVIEWS
A win-win for EDF Energy and its suppliers 10
On track – nuclear’s answer to the Olympics 12
Tom’s the man to bring industry’s image up to date 14
FEATURES
Nuclear first on Wylfa’s last day 15
Innovation that stops money going to waste 16
Decommissioning: Nuclear and the North Sea 18
Making Chernobyl safe 20
Romania: land of opportunity 21
PEOPLE
Masters success for Clean Energy’s part-time students 22
Medal honours David’s work on nuclear corrosion 22
Nuclear exam success for HVEC team 23
MELCOR is this year’s model for fusion 23
ITER: FROM
DREAM TO REALITY
Amec Foster Wheeler steps up to new role at world’s most
ambitious energy project
Cover photo: ITER’s Assembly Building,
where the largest tokamak components will
be pre-assembled before their installation,
towers over construction work on the
Diagnostic Building. See page 5.
Credit © ITER Organization,
http://www.iter.org/
10 14
Editorial contacts
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Steve Brauner
e: stephen.brauner@amecfw.com
t: +44 (0)1565 684462
Karen Winward
e: karen.winward@amecfw.com
t: +44 (0)1565 683046
If you would like an electronic copy of this magazine
please email karen.winward@amecfw.com
FACT: Amec Foster Wheeler delivered £715m of efficiency
savings at Sellafield as part of the Nuclear Management
Partners parent body organisation.

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS
03
SIAL trial marks growing
role at Fukushima
used successfully in commercial power
stations in Europe. Fuji believes it has
great potential and wishes to spread this
technology in Japan together with Amec
Foster Wheeler.”
Fukushima Daiichi NPP as it
looked before the tsunami
Amec Foster Wheeler’s innovative proprietary
technology is being used in a research and
development programme at Fukushima, Japan.
T
he work, carried out in partnership
with Fuji Electric on behalf of the
Japan Atomic Energy Agency,
centres on the SIAL® matrix, a specialised
geopolymer technique for encapsulating
various radioactive waste streams and
making them safer.
The research will test whether SIAL® can
be used to solidify sludge arising from
the damage at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant caused by the earthquake and
resulting tsunami in March 2011.
Andy White, Vice President for
Decommissioning at Amec Foster
Wheeler’s Clean Energy Europe business,
said: “The SIAL® technique can be used
on low, intermediate and higher-level
radioactive wastes. As a geopolymer,
it is superior to cement because it can
“It is an important
development that Amec
Foster Wheeler has
joined those supporting
the restoration of
Fukushima Daiichi”
KAZUYUKI KATO
incorporate significantly more waste into
the matrix, thus saving disposal costs.
The physical characteristics of the final
product means it performs better in terms
of compressive strength and leachability.”
Hiroshi Ozaki, General Manager of the
Nuclear Power Engineering Department of
Fuji Electric, said: “SIAL® has already been
Amec Foster Wheeler has also been
carrying out a major study into managing
radioactive waste at Fukushima on behalf
of Japan’s nuclear decommissioning
organisation. The work will assist the
Nuclear Damage Compensation and
Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation
(NDF) to develop a long-term waste
management strategy for the site.
Kazuyuki Kato, Managing Director of NDF,
said: “It is an important development
that Amec Foster Wheeler, one of the
UK’s leading organisations for waste
management, has joined those who are
supporting the restoration of Fukushima
Daiichi.”
Amec Foster Wheeler’s specialist project
team has been asked to identify practical
planning tools to support the future
development of a waste management
strategy for NDF at Fukushima, design
case studies to demonstrate how the
tools can be applied to deliver the best
practicable environmental option for
dealing with radioactive waste, and run
workshops based on these case studies
to provide NDF staff with hands-on,
practical training.
To find out more:
mayur.jagatia@amecfw.com

04 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS
Radiating confidence
in world-class facility
How will the electronic devices in satellites and
telescopes perform when they are bombarded
by radiation in outer space?
W
hen industry asks that
question, part of the answer
can be found at Amec Foster
Wheeler’s cobalt-60 gamma irradiation
facility at Harwell in the UK. This work has
developed from the facility’s core business,
which is to irradiate samples and
components for the nuclear industry
and provide world-class consultancy
on the effects of radiation.
Paul Murray, Operations Director, said:
“Customers come to us because of our
knowledge and experience, which has
led to international accreditation in the
field of irradiation effects in polymers for
organisations such as the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Our staff also play an important part in
developing test standards for IEC and
also in writing technical documentation,
providing lecture courses and participating
in coordinated research programmes.”
Samples can be irradiated in many
environments: in water, at high
temperatures, under vacuum, under
different gaseous environments,
in corrosive liquids and in different
combinations. This almost universal
gamma radiation capability is not always
available elsewhere.
“We help our customers
get more from their
high-value assets by
improving design,
increasing output,
extending asset life
and demonstrating safe
operation”
PAUL MURRAY
In addition, samples can be monitored
during irradiation to continuously
measure pressure, temperature, pH,
corrosion potentials, other transducer
outputs and electronic signals such as
camera images.
To find out more:
paul.murray@amecfw.com
Subs advice
for MOD
T
he UK Ministry of Defence has
appointed Amec Foster Wheeler
to supply independent nuclear
propulsion safety and technical advice
for the Royal Navy’s submarine flotilla.
The Nuclear Propulsion Independent
Advice and Assessment contract, which
was awarded after a competitive tender,
is expected to be worth around £75m
over five years. The work will be
delivered by a specialist team from
within Amec Foster Wheeler.
Clive White, President of Amec Foster
Wheeler’s Clean Energy Europe
business, said: “This contract
consolidates Amec Foster Wheeler’s
position as the largest provider of
independent safety assurance in the
UK nuclear sector.
“We will safeguard this vital and highly
specialised resource and the suitably
qualified and experienced people
needed to sustain it.”
New CEO for
Amec Foster Wheeler
D
r Jonathan Lewis became Chief Executive Officer of Amec Foster Wheeler on
1 June 2016. He joined from Halliburton Company Inc where he led the largest
division, Completion and Production.
Before starting work with Halliburton in 1996, Jon spent nine years in academia. He was
NERC research fellow at the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, and Conoco
Lecturer in Petroleum Geology at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh.

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS 05
Putting it all together
to make fusion happen
Stepping stone
to new world
of energy
ITER is the crucial step between
today’s fusion research and the fusion
power stations of the future. Its aim
is to prove that nuclear fusion – the same
general process that powers the sun –
can be a viable source of almost limitless,
carbon-free energy. Inside ITER’s reactor,
intense magnetic fields will trap
deuterium and tritium nuclei in a huge
doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber.
Construction work at ITER
Credit © ITER Organization, http://www.iter.org/
MOMENTUM, a joint venture led by Amec
Foster Wheeler, is to play a key role in ITER,
the world’s largest nuclear fusion research
project.
As pairs of deuterium and tritium nuclei
fuse in a self-sustaining ultrahot plasma,
they will release energetic neutrons and
produce 10 times as much energy as was
needed to heat them up.
20 years of
support to ITER
T
he British-French-Korean JV,
whose other partners are
Assystem Engineering and
Operation Services and KEPCO
Engineering and Construction Company,
has been awarded the construction
management-as-agent (CMA) contract.
The long-term contract, covering
management and coordination of
assembly and installation works at ITER’s
experimental reactor in the South of
France, is expected to continue into the
mid-2020s.
Clive White, President of Amec Foster
Wheeler’s Clean Energy Europe business,
said: “MOMENTUM was formed
specifically to meet the challenge
represented by the scope of work at ITER.
Its partners bring a proven track record of
delivering complex construction projects
in diverse industries.
“For Amec Foster Wheeler, this important
contract underlines our key role in
developing future nuclear technologies
while continuing to support the existing
nuclear fission power industry.
“The MOMENTUM partners will embed a
can-do project culture that is focused on
safety, quality and maintaining schedule
and costs.”
As CMA contractor, MOMENTUM will
manage and coordinate the assembly of
more than one million components for the
ITER reactor. At its centre is the world’s
largest tokamak, an experimental machine
designed to harness the energy of fusion,
the nuclear reaction that powers the sun.
The scope includes contract management,
configuration management, project
management, construction preparation,
site coordination, works supervision,
and activities leading up to mechanical
completion. The contract does not cover
design or fabrication of components,
construction of the buildings or building
services.
A
mec Foster Wheeler has played an
important part in the ITER project
for over 20 years, including a
crucial role in creating materials capable
of withstanding the temperatures inside
the vacuum vessel that houses the fusion
reaction. Our experts have also introduced
innovations into the test blanket modules,
which produce tritium to fuel the reaction.
Under a €70m contract announced last
year, Amec Foster Wheeler is leading
an alliance of companies to design,
manufacture, factory test, deliver and
commission the robotic systems for ITER’s
neutral beam, which heats up the plasma
for the fusion reaction.
These complex machines, each the size of
a bus, must be maintained, repaired and
replaced completely remotely. Earlier this
year, ITER announced that Amec Foster
Wheeler had won a €4m contract to
supply maintenance and remote handling
services.

06 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS
First UK
member of
ETSON
Amec Foster Wheeler’s position
as a leader in nuclear regulatory
support has been confirmed by
its successful application to become the
first UK-based member of the European
Technical Safety Organisation Network
(ETSON).
This honour recognises the company’s
successful delivery of high quality,
independent support to the UK
regulatory community over many
decades.
Amec Foster Wheeler’s independent
Regulatory Support Directorate team
joins counterparts from 10 European
countries in ETSON, which is dedicated
to developing and promoting best
practices in nuclear safety assessment.
Benoit De Boeck, President of ETSON
and General Manager of Belgium’s
Bel V, said: “Amec Foster Wheeler’s
independent regulatory team has a
great pedigree in the nuclear industry
and lives by the values of ETSON.
We are pleased to welcome the
company as the first UK member.”
Praise for key
report on
radioactive waste
A key customer has praised Clean Energy’s
work to support plans for geological disposal
of the UK’s radioactive waste.
A
mec Foster Wheeler staff at
Harwell and Birchwood, with help
from Quintessa and Lawrence
Johnson Consulting, worked with
Radioactive Waste Management Limited
(RWM) to produce an updated Waste
Package Evolution Status Report as part of
RWM’s Disposal System Safety Case suite
of documents.
The report provides important data on how
packages of waste are likely to change over
time and helps to inform decisions about
how they should be handled.
Dr Cristiano Padovani, RWM’s Senior
Research Manager responsible for the
delivery of the work, thanked the team
for ‘a very substantial effort’.
He added: “I wanted to really express my
gratitude for helping me get it done in time
and to an excellent quality.”
Mark Cowper, Head of Profession for
Waste and Environmental, said: “This was
an RWM company milestone delivered by
our team to time and quality and we have
received some good feedback.”
RWM, a subsidiary of the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority, is tasked
with delivering a geological disposal facility
and to optimise the management of higher
activity waste.
Agreement signed with Chinese reactor builder
A
mec Foster Wheeler has signed a wide-ranging agreement
with nuclear power plant constructor China Nuclear
Engineering & Construction (Group) Corporation (CNEC).
The two companies have confirmed a memorandum of
understanding covering potential collaboration in the nuclear
industry. It is the first time CNEC has agreed to collaborate
with a global engineering consultancy on the deployment of
high-temperature reactors in the UK and internationally.
Under the agreement, signed in Beijing, Amec Foster Wheeler and
CNEC have committed themselves to work together to develop
opportunities in nuclear power development, construction,
operation and decommissioning projects globally.
The signing ceremony
in Beijing

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS
07
Bruce Power in Ontario
Statistics have extreme value
for Candu operators
Work by Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada has contributed to savings
worth several hundred million Canadian dollars at Ontario Power Generation’s
Darlington and Pickering power stations.
T
hat is how much the operators
stood to lose between 2005 and
2020 had the Candu reactors
been derated and their generating capacity
reduced because of safety considerations.
Regulators may impose capacity limits to
preserve safety margins on units where
ageing of the primary heat transport
systems has called into question the
effectiveness of the Neutron Overpower
Protection (NOP), a safety system, in
protecting the core against a potential loss
of regulation. Amec Foster Wheeler’s experts
played a key role in the development
and application of a new methodology
for evaluating NOP trip setpoints –
operating thresholds which trigger
automatic shutdown of the reactor when
they are exceeded following a reactor
upset. In conventional NOP methodology,
Monte Carlo simulations are used to
establish a trip setpoint conservatively
so that there is a very high certainty of
providing protection.
But Amec Foster Wheeler applied an
extreme value statistics approach to
estimate the random process and
modelling errors in these computations
and define the trip setpoints more
accurately. This permits a higher value
for the setpoint that will provide
operating margin while ensuring that
safety is maintained with high confidence.
Amec Foster Wheeler’s work was also
instrumental in convincing the Canadian
Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to
accept the enhanced NOP methodology.
The CNSC has allowed its use by OPG and
Bruce Power on an interim basis for the
past 10 years and has now finally
accepted it. OPG said: “This is a major
achievement that helps avoid unnecessary
derating of Candu units due to reactor
ageing.
“OPG acknowledges that this acceptance
would not have been possible without the
great contributions and excellent
continuous support provided by Amec
Foster Wheeler staff on numerous
occasions since the early 2000s.
The company said its ‘deepest thanks’
went in particular to three Nuclear Canada
employees: Paul Sermer, Senior Technical
Expert; Michael Levine, Technical Expert;
and Ismail Cheng, Senior Technical Adviser,
for their ‘excellent technical support and
involvement’.
To find out more:
gord.fountain@amecfw.com

08 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS
Research
contracts to
tackle decom
challenge
T
he UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA) has awarded Amec Foster Wheeler
two framework contracts to provide
innovative solutions to some of its technical
challenges. The awards under the NDA’s Direct
Research Portfolio (DRP) are divided into two, the
first (Lot B) covering integrated waste management
and site remediation; and the second (Lot C)
covering spent fuel and nuclear materials.
The research and development frameworks are part
of an overall package worth up to £12m and are
being shared by 10 consortia, including two led
by Amec Foster Wheeler.
Andy White, Vice President for Decommissioning at
Amec Foster Wheeler, said: “These awards deal with
some of the industry’s biggest technical challenges
and position us at the vanguard of innovation.
The awards also enhance and further hone our
expertise and put it at the service of the NDA.”
US nuclear plants
seek bold ways
to optimise and
cut costs
Fracking has helped to create a glut of natural
gas in the USA, pushing energy prices
down. At the same time, growth in electricity
demand remains sluggish.
These two factors alone
would create tough trading
conditions for nuclear power
plants. But the industry’s
problems are compounded by
its own rising costs.
At just over US$36 per megawatt
hour, nuclear generation is 28%
more expensive compared with 12
years ago. The US nuclear industry
has realised that it has to respond
by becoming more efficient while
ensuring that safety remains its top
priority.
A new initiative called Delivering
the Nuclear Promise was launched
last December, coordinated by the
Nuclear Energy Institute and the
Institute of Nuclear Power
Operations, and involving utilities
and US industry suppliers.
The target is to cut costs by 30%
while also lobbying for regulatory
changes and market reforms that
will value the unrecognized benefits
of nuclear, such as its contribution
to fighting climate change.
Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear is
active in many of the areas where
the industry is seeking to become
more efficient. The initiative
scheduled to be completed by 2018.
To find out more:
abdy.khanpour@amecfw.com
Yvonne Morris, the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority’s Research Manager, said: “Overall we
were delighted with the high quality of the
submissions and look forward to working with the
organisations on our strategic R&D programme.
We now have new multi-supplier contracts aligned
with our key strategic themes. With many new
organisations involved for the first time we will have
broad input into addressing our R&D requirements.”

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | NEWS
09
Port Granby clean up
gets under way
Amec Foster Wheeler and joint venture partner CB&I have begun
work as prime contractor on the Port Granby low level radioactive
waste management facility in Southeast Clarington, Ontario, Canada.
The project will enable the safe
relocation of 450,000 cubic
metres of historic low-level waste
away from the receding Lake Ontario
shoreline for safe, long-term storage. An
engineered above-ground mound facility
is being built approximately 700 metres
north of the lake.
In July 2015, Amec Foster Wheeler and
CB&I were awarded a Cdn$86.8m contract
to undertake the Port Granby Project on
behalf of the PHAI. As prime contractor,
the scope includes facility construction,
waste excavation, construction of a
roadway to permit transportation of
the excavated material without using
municipal roads, and restoration of the
existing and new facility sites. Historic
low-level radioactive waste is found in the
area as a result of radium and uranium
refining which was carried out between the
1930s and the 1980s by state-owned and
private companies.
Scott Anderson, Senior Vice President,
Construction Remediation for Amec
Foster Wheeler and joint venture
chairman, said: “Our team plays an
important role addressing this
long-standing environmental issue safely
by delivering this project to our customer’s
requirements, while also supporting the
community with economic opportunities.”
Craig Hebert, PHAI General Manager,
added: “Our contractor brings extensive
international expertise to environmental
projects such as this, and the PHAI has
assembled a strong team to oversee the
work with safety and environmental
protection as our top priorities.”
Pictured at a shovel turning ceremony
to mark the start of work are (l-r):
Scott Anderson, Chairman Amec Foster
Wheeler - CB&I Joint Venture; Richard
Sexton, Acting Chief Transition Officer/
Vice-President, Decommissioning & Waste
Management Oversight; Mayor Adrian
Foster, Municipality of Clarington; Kim
Rudd MP, Parliamentary Secretary to
the Minister of Natural Resources; Mark
Lesinski, CNL President & CEO; Craig
Hebert, PHAI GM; and Wendy Partner,
Clarington Ward 4 Councillor.
To find out more:
scott.anderson@amecfw.com

10 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
A win-win for
EDF Energy and
its suppliers
EDF’s Andy Goddard describes the
background to life extensions at
Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2 and Torness
In 2015, total output from the UK’s
advanced gas-cooled reactors was the
highest for 10 years and a remarkable
50% up on 2008, when EDF acquired
British Energy. Safety performance was
the best ever with zero reportable nuclear
events, while the number of unplanned
outages was more than 50% down on the
year before.
The life extensions were a triumph
for EDF and its partners in the supply
chain, including Amec Foster Wheeler,
which played a big part in providing the
technical and safety reviews on which the
life extension projections were based.
Andy Goddard, EDF Energy’s Head of
Design Authority, said: “With Amec Foster
Wheeler in particular, we have a long
history; the company and its predecessors
have been involved in the AGR fleet since
design, build and commissioning and have
supported the stations during operation.
As a result, Amec Foster Wheeler have a lot
of site-specific technical and safety case
knowledge.
“The rigs and labs that Amec Foster
Wheeler maintain on our behalf are a key
aspect of our operations, both in terms of
their use on specific projects and also in
supporting our lifetime requirements, such
as monitoring the boilers and cores of the
reactors.”
This deep knowledge and practical
involvement means that we are involved
in everything from periodic safety reviews,
safety case updates and probabilistic
safety assessments, to planning projects
and developing novel engineering solutions
at the stations. Recently, Amec Foster
Wheeler has provided human factors
support for the Sizewell B dry fuel store,
as well as assistance with remote
handling and robotics to assess the
condition of boilers in the AGR fleet as
part of the BLIMP project.
Our support goes beyond helping to
maintain the physical assets, however.
“We need to ensure that we can maintain
the technical skills and capability that are
needed to underpin the AGR lifetimes.
Some of those capabilities are with
partners like Amec Foster Wheeler,”
says Andy.
He describes the Lifetime Agreement,
signed between EDF Energy and Amec
Foster Wheeler in late 2015, as an
important framework to ensure that the
ambitions of both companies are aligned.
Through this agreement, the need to
maintain a lifetime capability in some key
skill areas is recognised.
Andy also highlights that EDF Energy
has been working with the Technical
Work on the transformers
during an outage at Heysham
“The rigs and labs that
Amec Foster Wheeler
maintain on our behalf
are a key aspect of our
operations”
ANDY GODDARD

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
11
Amec Foster Wheeler
and its predecessors
have been involved
with the AGR fleet
since design, build and
commissioning
reduction in wholesale electricity prices.
We learned that it’s really important to be
clear on the fundamentals.
“These are to focus on 0-65-9 (zero harm,
annual output target of 65TWh and 9 years
average lifetime extension). Nuclear safety
continues to be our overriding priority
and we will continue to make significant
investment in the nuclear fleet to ensure
that safe reliable operation continues over
the lifetime of the assets and that we meet
our lifetime targets.
Services Alliance (a group of suppliers
which includes Amec Foster Wheeler) to
ensure an appropriate response to the
current challenges caused by falling
wholesale electricity prices.
“We continue to invest more than £600m
a year in our nuclear assets. The energy
market has been impacted significantly by
falling oil and gas prices. In response to
this, EDF Energy has launched a value and
efficiency programme to ensure that we
continue to invest in the nuclear assets in
the most effective way.
“We try to involve partners at the
strategic level at an early stage to explain
the issues we are facing and we invite ideas
from partners about how we can do things
better.
“By having strong collaborative
relationships with our supply chain
partners we are able to work together to
address these challenges. Often the key
thing is for us and our suppliers to work
together to ensure we have got the right
solution before we embark on a project.
The response also includes identifying
more efficient ways of working or working
together on more innovative solutions.”
So how does EDF Energy continue to
ensure a focus on safe reliable operation?
“We clearly have to respond to the
challenge presented by the energy market
but our response has to be appropriate.”
says Andy.
“In the early 2000s, British Energy failed
as a result of the way it responded to a
“It’s also worth saying that although we
have declared our best judgements about
end of life; it’s in the interests of the UK
energy market for us to operate safely
for as long as we are able to. Continuing
our extensive research and development
programme is vital to further increase
our understanding of the condition of the
boilers and the consequences of cracks in
the graphite core.”
Amec Foster Wheeler is heavily engaged in
the overall graphite programme designed
to understand the cores’ tolerance to
damage as they age. This includes stress
analysis modelling, damage tolerance
modelling – validating the results of these
models using one-quarter to one-eighth
scale graphite core rigs based at
Birchwood – as well as physical graphite
material testing in our laboratories.
“Under the Lifetime Agreement we have
agreed a longer term contract to secure
those skills and capabilities,” says Andy.

12 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
On track –
nuclear’s answer
to the Olympics
Tom Samson, chief executive of NuGen, is
leading the project to build three Westinghouse
AP1000 reactors at Moorside near Sellafield.
He explains the challenges facing the project
and how Amec Foster Wheeler is helping to
overcome them
M
oorside is Europe’s biggest
nuclear new build project with
generating capacity of up to
3.8GW, about 7% of the UK’s electricity
demand. Or, as Tom Samson puts it:
“This project is an Olympic-scale
opportunity and could be transformational
for the region in terms of jobs and
economic benefits and of huge significance
to the future of the UK.
“Construction of the new reactors will
create thousands of skilled jobs over the
next decade and we estimate that up to
60% of our project could be accessible
to the UK supply chain.”
With such a pioneering project, there
are plenty of obstacles to overcome.
Tom explains: “I don’t think my job is
supposed to be easy. I came to NuGen
because I knew it was going to be a
challenge, but I know that our organisation
is up to that challenge and the progress
we’ve made over the last 12 months has
clearly demonstrated that.”
Tom was previously Chief Operating
Officer on Abu Dhabi’s nuclear programme,
which effectively started from scratch
in a country with no nuclear heritage.
In contrast, Moorside is less than a mile
from Calder Hall, where the commercial
nuclear industry began some 60 years ago.
“The people in West Cumbria have been
incredibly supportive and welcoming,”
he says. “I genuinely believe that this
project has the best technology, with
the best people in the best place.
“We will make choices on key components
based on the AP1000 fleet track record
to ensure that we work with vendors who
can deliver the most schedule-sensitive
components. Similarly, all our choices
should be driven by cost competitiveness
if we are to provide affordable baseload
power. For sure there is a skills challenge
but there will only be a shortage if we fail to
engage with the market.”
Tom says NuGen, a joint venture between
Toshiba and ENGIE, is on track to make
its final investment decision by 2018. It is
seeking debt financing, focusing on Export
Credit Agency and Treasury supported
Artist’s impressions of the proposed
railway station near Moorside and,
below, of the NuGen development

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
13
debt on a highly structured, limited
recourse basis.
“This is a first for this industry, but we
remain confident that our delivery
capability and technology credentials will
enable us to make this happen.”
Amec Foster Wheeler’s support has been
‘extremely valuable’, says Tom, especially
on the Environmental Impact Assessment
and support with permitting.
He adds: “The specialisms and expert
knowledge that Amec Foster Wheeler has
been able to bring have been pivotal in
helping us collect the information which
is essential in progressing through the
development phase of the Moorside
Project.
“Amec Foster Wheeler has also been
instrumental in strengthening
Westinghouse in their responses to the
ONR under the GDA process, bringing
a deep knowledge of the UK
regulatory landscape to improve the
quality of safety case submissions and
reach timely closure of the open issues
necessary to secure Design Acceptance
Confirmation and Statement of Design
Acceptability for Moorside.
“We have also held a number of
discussions with Amec Foster Wheeler’s
leadership on how we can strengthen our
relationship – we are the start of a long
journey and need strong partners by our
side throughout that journey for us to be
successful.”
And Tom recalls that it was a member of
the Amec Foster Wheeler environmental
monitoring team who spotted and filmed
the most famous visitor to Moorside –
Myrtle the Turtle – a rare leatherback sea
turtle spotted off St Bees Head during
assessment work.
“I genuinely believe that
this project has the best
technology, with the best
people in the best place”
TOM SAMSON

14 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
Tom’s the man to bring
industry’s image up to date
What does an ex-MP know about nuclear power? A lot, in the case of
Tom Greatrex, who was a shadow energy minister in the last parliament
life extension of the UK’s existing reactor
fleet or the latest twist in the long-running
saga of Hinkley Point C.
“It’s important that the membership of the
NIA feel that they get value from the way
the organisation communicates on their
behalf,” he says.
Tom Greatrex
Tom Greatrex admits that when
he became Chief Executive of the
Nuclear Industry Association in
February, there were surprises in store. “I
wasn’t aware that the UK nuclear industry
was involved in such a wide range of activity,”
he says. This learning curve has left
Tom even more convinced that the nuclear
sector can play a big part in rebalancing
the UK economy. But he warns that the
industry needs to work on its public profile
to make sure that it reflects current reality.
“Perceptions are coloured by an outdated
understanding of what nuclear power
is about,” he says. “There is a lack of
awareness about the breadth and depth
of the knowledge base in the UK nuclear
industry and we all need to think about
how we can get the message across.”
Tom cites the fact that expertise and
capability developed in the UK is playing
an important role in the clean-up of
Fukushima, where Amec Foster
Wheeler is helping Japan’s nuclear
decommissioning body to draw up a
waste management strategy.
He adds: “This is an industry with great
export potential and, if we do it right,
we can create a highly specialised
decommissioning supply chain that will
create prosperity for generations to come.”
Tom’s professional background differs
markedly from that of Keith Parker, the
former senior Department of Energy civil
servant who has run the NIA since 2003.
However, he is quick to pay tribute to
his predecessor: “Keith has done a
tremendous job, especially when you
consider where nuclear policy was 13 years
ago and where it is now. Keith has played a
crucial role in driving that dialogue along.”
With copious experience of the media,
including writing columns for Utility Week,
Tom has grasped the opportunity to
complement the NIA’s behind-the-scenes
lobbying by raising his head above the
parapet to represent its 260 member
companies more visibly in the policy
debate. He is ready and willing to be
interviewed on television and radio when
big energy stories break, whether about
“There is almost no aspect of policy that
doesn’t impact on energy – from whether
elderly people can afford to heat their
homes to geopolitical issues in the Middle
East. That’s why it’s so important that
energy policy is right.”
Drawing on his experience, Tom expects
that Labour’s broad consensus in favour of
nuclear as a key part of the energy mix will
survive the current turmoil in the party.
“When you look back to when the last
Labour government began the process
towards the new build programme, the
Conservatives said they regarded
nuclear as a last resort and the Liberal
Democrats were opposed to the idea.
But when they were in government, they
both moved their positions.
“That’s because anyone who looks at the
facts will see that nuclear has to be
included in any serious proposal for
meeting our future energy needs. MPs in
all the main parties are aware of that and
it’s important that we retain that broad
base of support.
“This is a long-term business and it is
almost certain that there will be changes
in political leadership during the lifetime
of these new stations.”

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
15
Nuclear first
on Wylfa’s last day
Amec Foster Wheeler experts have found a way to achieve huge savings
as reactors approach planned closure
and fuel transport, as the interfaces with
them were crucial.”
Wylfa 1 nuclear
power plant
When the Wylfa 1 reactor was
shut down for the last time on
the afternoon of December
30, 2015, it brought an end to the 49-year
history of the UK’s Magnox stations.
But a nuclear first was achieved that day
as well as the reactor had almost used up
all of its available fuel.
Duncan Hall, Nuclear Science and
Structural Integrity Operations Manager
at Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy
business, said: “What Magnox did, with
our support, at Wylfa has not been done
anywhere else in the world as far as we’re
aware. Usually, reactors tend to be shut
down with lots of very productive fuel still
inside. That would probably include some
fuel that was placed inside the reactor
only a few months before. This is a waste
because fuel doesn’t get to its most
reactive state until it’s been in use for
about a year.”
Needless to say, Wylfa’s precise timing
did not happen by accident. Back in 2002,
Magnox commenced initial studies into
fuel cycle optimisation at the four
remaining stations, which also included
Sizewell, Dungeness and Oldbury.
Magnox staff from engineering,
reactor physics, operations, fuel route and
commercial departments were involved in
determining the strategic options, along
with experts in fuel performance, fuel
cycle design, reactor fault studies, safety
case, and independent nuclear safety
assessment. Because the capacity for fuel
reprocessing would be a major constraint,
representatives from Sellafield were also
involved. The programme, which had not
been attempted anywhere before, was divided
up into four parallel work-streams of
reactor physics, modellers, fault analysts
and safety case authors, plus site
implementation teams, all operating to
tight timescales.
Amec Foster Wheeler’s reactor and fuel
performance, reactor physics and fuel
cycle management teams worked closely
with Magnox throughout. Duncan
explained: “Most people think this is
something just for physicists and fuel
cycle people to deal with. In fact the key to
success was to involve fuel reprocessing
The lessons from Sizewell and Dungeness
were applied by Magnox to Oldbury and
Wylfa, where more fuel efficient fuel cycles
and associated safety cases were
implemented. And when the opportunity
arose to generate electricity for longer
at Oldbury and Wylfa, these greater
efficiencies really came into their own.
At Wylfa, thanks to the transfer of fuel
from the already shut down reactor 2, the
station continued generating for another
five years without needing to order any
new fuel.
“Magnox were able to dispense with the
equivalent of four years’ fuel purchases,”
said Duncan. “And because the used fuel
was more irradiated because it had been
in the reactor for longer, it did not cost as
much to reprocess.”
As an indication of just how massive the
savings could be, it’s worth noting that a
Magnox reactor has space for more than
48,000 fuel elements. Meanwhile, the
additional generation at Oldbury and
Wylfa reaped a windfall of more than £1bn
for the British taxpayer via the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority, Magnox’s
owners.
News of the remarkable results achieved
at Wylfa have spread around the industry
in the UK and abroad, so Duncan and his
team are now talking to other operators
about how they can achieve the same
efficiencies.
To find out more:
duncan.hall@amecfw.com

16 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
Innovation that
stops money
going to waste
Perceptions about the cost of
decommissioning nuclear installations
and disposing of radioactive waste are
being challenged by research breakthroughs
and new ways of working
“Our engineered solutions
are highly pragmatic
whilst remaining safe,
and are based on solutions
that we know will work”
ANDY WHITE
An operator monitoring
the SIAL® system at a nuclear
power plant
R
elentless pressure on public
spending means the nuclear
industry needs to find simpler and
cheaper ways of doing things, provided they
are still safe and compliant with regulatory
requirements.
Amec Foster Wheeler’s approach is a
combination of effective delivery, avoiding
over-engineered solutions, and the More 4
Less methodology of delivering more work
for less cost without compromising on
safety. The company is involved in
decommissioning and radioactive waste
management in Europe, the USA and Asia.
It has been working at Sellafield for more
than 40 years and at Chernobyl for more
than 20.
Drawing on the skills and knowledge of
its global network, it has concluded that
cost reductions of 50% are achievable on
many UK projects, without any significant
alteration in scope. The analysis has also
found potential to cut project timescales
by half thanks to more efficient testing and
advanced waste processing technologies.
“Nuclear decommissioning is not a new
industry any more,” says Andy White, Vice
President for Decommissioning at Amec
Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business.
“We are constantly questioning existing
ways of working and finding ways to redefine
global best practice with a view to reducing
costs for the customer.
“We are doing this by applying proven
technologies and techniques, supported
by teams who are experienced in providing
services based on them and creating the
outcomes that customers want.”
For example, the inorganic SIAL® matrix
has proved its worth as a method for
immobilising and solidifying waste streams
such as sludge, ion exchange resins and
incinerator ash. Developed by Amec Foster
Wheeler Slovakia in response to a nuclear
power plant accident, the technique has
been licensed and successfully applied in
central Europe for many years. In simple
terms, the wastes are sucked up by a robot,
pumped into a drum and then dosed with
inorganic solids – mainly compounds of
silicon and aluminium.
SIAL® can be used with low, intermediate
and higher-level wastes. Its superior
encapsulation properties quickly turn
them into a solid with low leachability of

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
17
How SIAL works
Managed radioactive waste treatment service
Waste characterization
characterisation
Pre-treatment
Treatment Treatment
u
Sampling Detailed physical, of the waste chemical, radiological
and radiochemical characterisation
Detailed physical, chemical,
radiological and radiochemical
characterization
u Retrieval Retrieval of of the the waste waste
u Filtration, dewatering
u On-site On-site
u Mobile Mobile treatment treatment units units
u SIAL® SIAL matrix ® matrix technology
u Final Final package package form form approved approved by by
regulatory regulatory authority authority
radionuclides and also makes the material
much easier to handle, transport and store.
Pavol Stuller, Director for Central and
Eastern Europe, explains: “There are
demanding requirements around long-term
storage of nuclear waste such as spent
ion exchange resins or non-standard
waste. SIAL® is the only tried and tested
geopolymer encapsulate on the market
for use in nuclear power plants. It has a
successful track record, having treated
more than 1,000 tons of waste.”
The use of SIAL® also saves money
because fewer waste containers are
required, with an additional knock-on
saving in final storage costs.
Andy White says: “Traditionally, UK
decommissioning clients have opted for
‘make’ solutions, engaging the supply
chain in a piecemeal fashion, with
different contracting vehicles used to
deliver the various parts of the project:
problem definition, solution development,
FEED, implementation et cetera.
This is inefficient and doesn’t make use
of best practice from the wider industry,
where solutions may already exist. It also
leads to over-engineered solutions.
The approach in eastern Europe is very
different, and UK customers have been
quick to see its attractions.”
Asked to build a test rig for a six-month
project at a waste treatment plant, Amec
Foster Wheeler proposed a very basic
design re-using an existing structure in its
test facility at Birchwood, Warrington. This
saved money because there was no need
to manufacture access stairs. The client
originally considered a design that was fully
engineered to last more than 20 years.
In another project, Amec Foster
Wheeler has been contracted on a fixed
price basis to provide a service for the
recovery, treatment and export of waste,
with an incentive to minimise the number
of drums produced. It takes ownership
of the full project lifecycle, including all
supporting documentation, engineering,
manufacturing and retrieval/treatment
operations.
Adds Andy White: “Our engineered
solutions are highly pragmatic whilst
remaining safe, and are based on solutions
that we know will work, with only the
minimum of modifications made to adapt
to the facility in question.
“The equipment is simple, mobile, easy to
decontaminate, can be re-used, and can
be deployed as close to the source of the
waste as possible, hence minimising both
the work and the risk associated with
moving nuclear materials.
Scabbling success
Amec Foster Wheeler Slovakia’s
problem-solving skills are also being
applied to more unusual decommissioning
challenges. At a former experimental
nuclear reactor site in the UK, a postirradiation
examination cell for nuclear
fuel had been left with large areas of high
contamination on the floor and walls.
Five millimetres of concrete had to be
skimmed off to remove contaminated
material, but all work had to be done
remotely because of the high dose risks
to operators. Drawing on experience of
developing new techniques in response
to decommissioning challenges at
nuclear power plants, Amec Foster Wheeler
Slovakia designed a remotely operated
scabbling head attached to a crab and
arm system which can traverse in three
dimensions. The machine was used
successfully to remove the surface
concrete to the required depth at the
rate of 3 square metres per hour.
The equipment was deployed by Amec
Foster Wheeler’s UK-based Specialist
Remediation Services team and the results
far exceeded the customer’s expectations.
To find out more:
pavol.stuller@amecfw.com

18 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
Nuclear and the
North Sea
Amec Foster Wheeler is uniquely placed for
decommissioning work in the North Sea oil
and gas industry thanks to its experience in
the nuclear sector
“There is an opportunity
to develop a world
leading decommissioning
industry whose capabilities
can be exported”
BOB CHURCHILL
Operationally, there are few obvious
parallels between oil and gas and
the nuclear industry. Until, that is,
an installation needs to be decommissioned.
At that point, both industries have to
grapple with hazardous waste, complex
engineering tasks, strict legislative and
regulatory frameworks, and the ever-present
danger of overrunning costs.
In terms of generation capacity, nuclear
power has contributed 20% to 25% of the
UK’s electricity generation over the last four
decades, with hydrocarbons (coal, gas and
oil) contributing around 50%. When the
cost of decommissioning and waste
management is totted up, these
positions are reversed. UK North Sea
decommissioning is currently expected
to cost just over half the estimated £70bn
to £80bn for UK civil nuclear.
So far, the pace of work on oil and gas
decommissioning has lagged behind, largely
because redundant platforms can be left
standing idle for years, which is not an
environmentally safe option for much of the
UK’s nuclear infrastructure. In recent
decades, several hundred commercial,
prototype and research reactors have been
retired throughout the world. Amec Foster
Wheeler has been involved in this kind of
work for 25 years. And the company has
learned some valuable lessons which
can help control the costs of North Sea
decommissioning, which are expected
to run to £17bn over the next 10 years alone.
This represents only 17% of the 470
installations that will need to be removed
over the next 30-40 years at an approximate
total cost of £47bn. This huge sum will be
borne by both operators and the taxpayer.
Bob Churchill, Strategic Business
Development Director of Amec Foster
Wheeler’s Clean Energy Europe business,
says: “We have been working internally on a
transfer of ideas and experiences from the
nuclear industry to oil and gas for a couple
of years.
“Overall, 50% to 60% of nuclear
decommissioning work is concerned with
radioactive waste, so 40% to 50% of the
work has a lot in common with oil and gas.
It is pretty industrial and although the
regulators are different, they both have
uppermost in their minds a focus on safety,
health and environmental considerations.”
Bob has concluded that there are two big
messages from the nuclear experience.
“The first question is this: ‘How do we take
a company or an organisation, which has
spent decades taking rightful pride in safe
and efficient operation, whether of an oil
platform or a nuclear power plant, and then
repurpose it to decommission that asset and
take it apart?’
“It’s really a case of giving them a new
mission, and this learning is absolutely

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
19
“Nuclear is probably 10 years
ahead in the context of what it
takes to repurpose an organisation
from operation and production to
decommissioning”
Offshore oil platform
in the North Sea
transferable. Nuclear is probably 10 years
ahead in the context of what it takes to
repurpose an organisation from operation
and production to decommissioning and
waste management.
“It’s easy to dismiss these as soft skills and
take the view that it should be easy to tell
people to do something different. But it’s
not so easy to move big organisations in a
completely new direction –you have to win
hearts and minds to get buy-in and bring
about the necessary changes.”
The second area, says Bob, is technology.
Tools and systems developed in the
nuclear industry are transferable to oil
and gas, particularly the use of remotely
operated vehicles for handling hazardous
waste.
Other transferable skills are the
automation of dismantling large
structures, decontamination, waste
management and recycling of materials.
Oil and gas can also learn from the UK
nuclear industry’s use of lifetime plans
(LTP) for each site, which outline the work
required to operate, commission and clean
up the sites, and are overseen by the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA).
This had led to huge cost savings for the
taxpayer and helped organisations to
repurpose themselves and make the
cultural changes needed. Meanwhile,
Programme Management ensured a
seamless transition from late life operation
to decommissioning.
Bob says: “We have been working in
nuclear decommissioning for 25 years and
we have seen how LTPs and programme
management have changed the landscape.
“When combined with our extensive oil and
gas skills and knowledge, this means we
are uniquely placed to bring this learning
to the North Sea, where we are already
shaping the new horizon and proactively
finding solutions. Our knowledge is now
increasingly sought after internationally
because we have the widest experience to
address the next steps boldly and at pace.
“If North Sea decommissioning is done
well, the prize is huge. There is an
opportunity to develop a world-leading
decommissioning industry whose
capabilities can be exported to other
global ageing basins, just as Amec Foster
Wheeler’s nuclear decommissioning skills
are now being applied at Chernobyl and
Fukushima.”
Unique set of skills
In the oil and gas sector, Amec Foster
Wheeler has implemented ‘More 4
Less’, a new approach which focuses
on efficiency, challenging assumptions
and driving new ways of thinking.
Craig Shanaghey, Director of Operations
of the Europe Offshore business, says:
“Applying this to the decommissioning
market, we believe developing a much
stronger link between late life asset
management and decommissioning is
the way forward. This means earlier
planning to facilitate strong contract
management that extracts value and
a proactive approach that protects the
value of assets, and assures the asset
effectively transfers from production to
decommissioning mode. Amec Foster
Wheeler is well placed to offer a different
mind-set and a unique set of skills
with the combination of our oil & gas
experience and our extensive nuclear
decommissioning experience. We can
maximise field life of our assets, and
effectively prepare for decommissioning
execution at minimum cost. That is how
we can deliver more for less.”
To find out more:
bob.churchill@amecfw.com

20 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
Making
Chernobyl safe
Thirty years after the accident, Amec Foster
Wheeler is still working at the former nuclear
power plant in Ukraine
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant suffered an
accident in one of its four reactors
that sent a radioactive plume into the
atmosphere. In the immediate aftermath,
this caused dozens of deaths and
contaminated tens of thousands of
acres of land with radiation, leading to
evacuation of some 35,000 people and
the establishment of a 35km radius
exclusion zone.
The ISF2 facility
A substantial quantity of fallout landed in
Belarus but some traces of radioactive
material reached as far as Finland and
Great Britain. The first western European
knowledge of the accident was from
radiation monitors in Sweden.
Since then, international organisations
have been active at the Chernobyl site on
a number of programmes of nuclear safety
enhancement. Amec Foster Wheeler has
been working there since the mid-1990s,
starting with short-term safety upgrades
to the three surviving reactors, ChNPP 1,
2 and 3.
We have also provided project
management support for the
decommissioning of the three undamaged
units, and consultancy and project
management services for the Liquid
Radwaste Treatment Facility, which was
completed in 2010, and the Interim Spent
Fuel Storage Facility 2 (ISF2).
These two projects have been funded by
international (mainly European) donations
through the Nuclear Safety Account, which
is managed by the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development.
The initial work was part of an EU-funded
programme to address concerns about
unsafe design characteristics in
Soviet-designed RBMK reactors, similar to
those at Chernobyl.
Amec Foster Wheeler also carried out a
similar programme at Smolensk NPP in
Russia, which involved improvements to
the safety margins and safety culture and
strengthening the skills of operators and
managers.
“Very few UK-based
companies have worked
at Chernobyl at all,
never mind for more
than 20 years”
JOHN DYNAN
ISF2 is designed for the huge task of
storing all the used fuel on the Chernobyl
site for at least 100 years. It has the
world’s largest ‘hot cell’ – a shielded
containment chamber for work on
radioactive material – which will be
used to dismember 22,000 RBMK fuel
assemblies before they are placed in
casks for storage and monitoring.
Amec Foster Wheeler’s team running the
ISF2 Project Management Unit comprises
expatriates, locally recruited employees
and embedded members of staff from
the customer. Project completion is
expected in 2017. John Dynan, Operations
Manager, Waste Management and
Decommissioning, says: “Very few UKbased
companies have worked at
Chernobyl at all, never mind for more than
20 years as Amec Foster Wheeler has.
We have learned a great deal from playing
a part in one of the most important nuclear
decommissioning projects anywhere in
the world.”
To find out more:
john.dynan@amecfw.com

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | FEATURE
21
Romania:
land of opportunity
Clean Energy is expanding at a busy time for the
country’s nuclear sector
Cernavoda NPP
T
he Romanian business began 2016
with 15 members of staff but Sorin
Patrascoiu, Managing Director of
Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear Romania,
expects this to increase to 30 by the
end of the year. Our main clients are
Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica
(SNN), the generating company, and
Agentia Nucleara si pentru Deseuri
Radioactive din Romania (ANDR), the
national nuclear agency responsible for
dealing with radioactive waste.
Sorin says: “There is quite an interesting
stream of projects coming up during
2016. I think we are in a very good position
because we are the only big international
company with a permanent office and well
established engineering team in Romania.
Our competitors don’t have a presence
here, they mainly rely on partnerships with
local companies.”
Sorin is hiring Romanian specialists for the
new Candu Delivery Centre in Bucharest,
another collaboration between Clean
Energy and Nuclear Canada. The idea of
the CDC is that Romanian Candu experts
will support Cernavoda and also work
remotely on Canadian projects.
“We expect to have 10 people in the CDC
by the end of this year,” said Sorin, who
is sure that the team can meet Canadian
standards but at lower cost.
Clean Energy is also preparing its
participation in an anticipated bid for the
owner’s engineer role on ANDR’s planned
repository at Saligny. This work would
include site and construction licensing,
managing the procurement processes
for the EPC contractor and operator
and supervising their work. And we
are embarking on work to secure
engineering, licensing and regulatory
approval for a pilot plant to establish the
technology that will be used at the Tritium
Removal Facility at Cernavoda.
Romania is planning an ambitious, €7.2bn
new build programme – China General
Nuclear Power Group has been selected
as the key investor in Units 3 and 4 at
Cernavoda. Some of the concrete
structures have already been built for
the new reactors, which will be updated
versions of the Candu-6.
This will create opportunities for
environmental permitting work as well as
nuclear licensing. To make sure that Amec
Foster Wheeler is in the best position
to capitalise, our Environment &
Infrastructure business in Romania,
which employs five people in Bucharest,
will be absorbed by Clean Energy.
SNN operates Cernavoda NPP, which
generates about 20% of the country’s
electricity using Candu-6 reactors – Unit
1 was commissioned in 1996 and Unit 2
in 2007. Two contracts were signed in the
first quarter of this year: support for SNN
to plan the refurbishment of Cernavoda
Unit 1, a large project which is likely to
cost between €1bn and €1.5bn; and for
independent verification of the design of a
nuclear safety system at the plant.
Clean Energy is also supporting Amec
Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada to supply
a model of the primary heat transfer
circuit and to verify its pipes and supports.
And we will also be bidding for more
independent verification work and tasks
related to normal operational and
maintenance programmes at Cernavoda.
Dr Bill Miller, Clean Energy’s Repository
Director, is reviewing Romania’s national
radioactive waste strategy in a joint project
with a team of experts from CE Romania
and ANDRA, the French radwaste agency.
ANDR, Romania’s national nuclear agency,
expects the work of this multinational
team to bring the strategy into line with
important changes in European
regulations.
Alice Dima, ANDR Director, said the review
was “of utmost importance considering
the important impact of the strategy on
redefining national policy objectives, on
defining the national inventory, on the longterm
investment plan for radwaste and
spent fuel disposal and related timelines,
and on nuclear-related R&D activities.”
Sorin Patrascoiu
Sorin, who is on the board of industry trade
body Romatom, says: “Combined nuclear
and environmental competence will be a
big asset when we bid for this work. It will
also give us a chance to find new clients
in other areas of the power sector such as
coal-fired generation and waste-to-energy
municipal projects.”

22 THE BEACON MAGAZINE | PEOPLE
Masters success
for Clean Energy’s
part-time students
Medal honours
David’s work on
nuclear corrosion
David Tice, Chief Corrosion
Scientist in Materials Science
and Structural Integrity at Amec
Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business,
has been selected to receive the Coriou
Medal by the European Federation of
Corrosion.
Among many world-leading insights
and advances, he has:
u Generated the most extensive data set
on fatigue crack growth of stainless
steel in high temperature water
relevant to pressurised water reactors;
Katy Greer and Cliff Harris, from
Applied Chemistry and Materials,
have graduated with an MSc in
Corrosion Control and Engineering from
Manchester University.
Both were studying part time, sponsored
and supported by Amec Foster Wheeler,
and both were awarded a Distinction.
Greg Willetts, Vice President for
Consultancy, said: “I’d like to congratulate
Katy and Cliff on getting very impressive
results on their MSc course.
“I know that managing to find time to study
while working is always difficult, so that
makes the achievement of a distinction all
the more remarkable.”
Cliff, a Senior Consultant based at
Birchwood, said: “I’m extremely grateful
to Amec Foster Wheeler for their
sponsorship and support throughout
this degree course. I feel that my career
will undoubtedly benefit from having this
qualification.”
Katy, a Materials Consultant also based at
Birchwood, added: “The MSc has been a
great opportunity for me, not just in terms
of gaining knowledge, but also in gaining a
well-respected qualification.
“The work was challenging and I am
incredibly pleased to be graduating with a
Distinction.”
The award,
which will be
presented at
the Eurocorr
2016 conference
in Montpellier,
France in
September,
is made to a scientist or engineer who has
helped to solve nuclear corrosion issues
and has made progress in understanding
them.
The medal design is based on an image of
a stress corrosion crack in the Alloy
600 material used to make various
components in pressurised water reactors.
David was proposed for the award by
Professor John Stairmand, Amec Foster
Wheeler’s Technical Director and Chief
Scientist for Materials and Structural
Integrity; Professor Andrew Sherry, Chief
Scientist of the National Nuclear
Laboratory; Professor Stuart Lyon of
Manchester University; and Dr. Alan
Turnbull, Senior Fellow of the National
Physical Laboratory.
During more than 35 years in the nuclear
industry, he has led research that has
paved the way to major advances in
understanding and predictive capability.
He is an internationally recognised expert
in environmentally-assisted cracking of
nuclear materials, a process which
presents one of the major threats to
nuclear plant structural integrity.
u Identified knowledge gaps associated
with environmental fatigue endurance
and set out a route map for addressing
these issues, achieving a consensus
amongst international experts;
u Showed for the first time that
sulphate-contamination of PWR
environments causes initiation of
environmental cracking and influences
crack growth rates in low alloy
pressure vessel steels.
David is also a visiting Professor in the
Materials Performance Centre at the
University of Manchester, where he has an
active role in research project support and
student supervision.
David
Tice

THE BEACON MAGAZINE | PEOPLE
23
Nuclear exam success
for HVEC team
The vast pool of skills at Amec Foster Wheeler’s
High-Value Engineering Centre (HVEC) in India is
now at the disposal of the nuclear industry around
the world.
MELCOR is this
year’s model for
fusion
MELCOR is a code used to model the
behaviour of nuclear plants in severe
accident conditions and interest in it
has risen since Fukushima.
Martin Turner and Paul Smith from
Amec Foster Wheeler chaired specialist
sessions at the two-day meeting in April.
Our co-sponsor was Imperial College
London, which provided the venue.
Delegates from 18 countries heard
presentations on recent updates to the
programme and from users about how
it is being applied for safety studies.
Notable this year was the increased
interest in using MELCOR to model
fusion reactors. Andrew Grief and
Simon Owen from Amec Foster Wheeler
presented papers on this topic.
Six engineers based in Chennai
have passed the Award for Nuclear
Industry Awareness (ANIA),
a qualification designed by the UK’s
National Skills Academy for Nuclear to
provide a grounding in the sector’s specific
requirements. Srinivas Dendukuri, Chief
Engineer – Project Engineering, said:
“For someone like me coming from the oil
and gas sector, this course has definitely
opened doors to the nuclear industry by
providing an introductory engineering
insight.”
Meanwhile, his colleague Sankar
Chockalingam, a senior electrical
engineer with 13 years’ experience, is on
secondment from Chennai to Birchwood,
near Warrington, where he is working on
his first nuclear project, designing a new
intermediate-level waste store for the
former fast reactor site in Dounreay,
Scotland. The HVEC, which has 800 people
in the main office in Chennai and another
240 in Kolkata, has been operating since
1998. Andrew Forrest, Engineering
Director of Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean
Energy business, said: “Within most
projects there are areas of work where
a qualified engineer’s core skills can be
utilised, irrespective of their industry
background. Good examples are electrical
design, piping design, CAD work,
document control – the list goes on.
“Effectively combining the HVEC’s
capability with our local knowledge of
the customer, site and regulatory
requirements gives us a powerful
competitive edge.”
The HVEC’s capability covers all main
engineering design disciplines
(process, mechanical, CE&I and CS&A)
plus procurement, construction
management and project administration.
Its teams use industry-leading systems
throughout all disciplines including Aveva
(PDMS) and Autodesk tools for 3D CAD
and database-driven engineering.
And with about 40% of the HVEC’s
engineers boasting 15 or more years’
experience, many of them certified by UK
institutes, there is no shortage of expertise.
Left: Sankar
Chockalingam and
above, the HVEC’s
successful nuclear
exam candidates
(left to right)
Rajkumar
Subramanian,
Srinivas
Dendukuri,
Logithasan Shunmugavel, Kumaravel
Margabandu, Nagarajan Krishnamurthy
and Gengadharan Krishnan.

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© Amec Foster Wheeler 2016