19 February 2016

A Costain poster outlining a £1 million project that could dramatically reduce the amount of nuclear waste needing to be stored has won the best poster prize at a nuclear research conference.

Costain is working with MDecon, Tetronics International and the University of Manchester on a three-year project to develop a new way to treat irradiated graphite from decommissioned nuclear reactors. The aim is to convert the graphite to carbon dioxide gas, which can then be incorporated into a carbon capture and storage scheme.

Mark Rogers, Costain Senior Process Engineer, put together the best industrial poster for the Research Frontiers in Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management Conference at Glasgow University organised by the NWDRF (Nuclear Waste &Decommissioning Research Forum). Containing technical details, diagrams and photographs, the poster enabled him to brief leading figures in the UK nuclear industry about the project, which began last year.

“As lead partner, Costain brings its significant expertise in both gas processing and process plant design for the nuclear industry to this project,” said Mark. “Our role is to produce a design study for downstream gas processing from thermal treatment. This will help us understand the environmental impact of aerial and marine releases due to this proposed process, and to develop a process for carbon dioxide recovery from the offgas.”

So far small-scale trials on graphite processing have been carried out at the University of Manchester, with full-scale trials due to take place at Tetronics later this summer. Other work carried out so far includes tests by MDecon on graphite retrieval.

A strong Costain presence at the conference also included Dr Bryony Livesey, Head of Research and Technology. She spoke to delegates about the plasma vitrification of nuclear waste.

 

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