Liquid Metal Fire Tenders Phased Out At Dounreay
13th April 2009
The destruction of the liquid metal coolant in Dounreay's experimental fast reactors means that the site can say farewell to two of its firefighters, the graphex tenders.
Specially built for Dounreay, the two graphex tenders are the only ones in the world. They were designed to fight large scale metal fires, and each vehicle carried one tonne of graphex powder - a graphite-based fire fighting agent - which would be sprayed onto the fire.
The tenders arrived on site in 1984, and have now reached the end of their operational life.
Dounreay's fire chief, Kenny Porteous, comments that the tenders have never been required to put out a metal fire.
"Although the Dounreay Fire Ambulance & Rescue Service has never been called out to fight a large scale metal fire, the tenders have provided us with the reassurance that we could deal with one should it break out," he said.
"However, now that all the sodium has been destroyed in the prototype fast reactor, and the destruction of the coolant at the Dounreay fast reactor is imminent, we no longer need that reassurance and can withdraw these ageing tenders from service."
Related Businesses
Related Articles
The world's first carbon-14 diamond has been produced with the potential to provide power for thousands of years. Scientists and engineers from the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the University of Bristol have successfully created the world's first carbon-14 diamond battery.
He joins from AtkinsRealis, where he was market director and delivery lead for its nuclear decommissioning and waste services business, and officially takes up the post today (18 November 2024), He succeeds John Grierson who has served as interim MD since May. NRS CEO Rob Fletcher said, "I am very pleased that Dave Wilson has agreed to join the team at Dounreay.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority group have announced five organisations as winners of this year's supply chain awards. Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, The Decommissioning Delivery Partnership, PA Consulting, Antech and The Higher Activity Waste Thermal Treatment Tranche 1 Team are the big winners in this year's supply chain awards.
Find out what has been happening at UKAEA in our monthly newsletter. Read about our recent activities and upcoming events.
With a degree in electrical and electronic engineering and a keen interest in the nuclear sector, Anouschka knew Sellafield would be the best place for her to begin her career in the industry. That career has already seen her relocate from Sheffield to Cumbria and scooping the title of Sellafield Ltd Graduate of the Year.
More than 140 graduates have started at Sellafield Ltd. Over 140 graduates have just started their exciting careers with the company in a range of business and technical disciplines, supporting Sellafield Ltd in its mission to create a clean and safe environment for future generations.
Find out what has been happening at UKAEA in our monthly newsletter. Read about our recent activities and upcoming events.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group has on 26 September 2024 published its 2023 to 2024 socio-economic report detailing a record investment in projects across the UK. Over the last five years, the NDA group has invested £60 million in projects that enable permanent and sustainable change in its site communities, leveraging many millions more from partners.
Today, the ponds inside the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (or as we like to call it, Thorp) are used to store nuclear fuel that has been used in the UK's 7 operational nuclear reactors. Before taking on this new mission, Thorp reprocessed 9,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel from around the world, generating an estimated £9 billion in revenue for the UK over 2 decades.
Over 100 graduates join the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority group today as applications open for 2025. As applications open for 2025, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group also welcomed its largest ever cohort of graduates today, with more than 100 new recruits ready to support delivery of one of the world's most important environmental programmes.