Red Engineering & Sellafield

Solutions to support decommissioning at Sellafield  

RED Engineering is a trusted engineering partner for clients around the world who operate in hazardous conditions. They were approached by Sellafield to help them develop a solution to protect radiation workers from floor-based historical contamination, as part of their decommissioning activity.  

Sellafield’s decommissioning activity is a multi-decade project to clean up the nuclear site, dealing with hazardous materials, untreated waste, and contaminated buildings. Workers on the site are carefully monitored for radiation exposure levels. The floor tile product will help to lower the radiation levels the decommissioning teams are exposed to in their areas, and prolong allowable working times.  

The requirements for Sellafield were very specific. The product had to be: 

• Easily deployable to and removable from a working area  

• Light enough for manual handling by an individual – <25kg 

• Equivalent to 5mm thickness of lead  

• Capable of supporting an operator’s weight  

• Easy to clean, with a smooth surface and no areas which could harbour contamination 

Additionally, the pieces had to overlap, to ensure there were no gaps in the radiation shielding provided. All lead material needed to be fully enclosed in stainless steel metalwork to avoid direct contact with the operator.  

There was also an additional specification – to try and avoid welding as much as possible. 

Developing ideas and prototypes  

The team at RED developed an initial idea and needed to find a sheet metal fabrication partner who could work with both steel and lead. Our metal fabrication experience, combined with in-house lead integration capability, was the perfect fit for their needs.  

They came up with a concept featuring three different shaped tiles which fit together: square, triangle, and hexagon. In collaboration with our Technical Sales Manager Andy and Project Manager Lewis, RED Engineering and our New Product Introduction team worked together to review and adjust the design. This included developing specific tooling for the press brakes to form the lead sheet.  

As we moved through the development process, we went through various iterations of the design before settling on one which met both Sellafield’s requirements and RED Engineering’s specifications as proof of concept.  

The Outcome  

The initial prototypes were presented to Sellafield at their Centre of Excellence, with teams from around the company invited to view and test the product and give feedback on the design.  

The response from the client has been very positive, with RED Engineering already receiving interest for upcoming projects.  

The next step in the project will be to work with RED Engineering to incorporate the amends and improvements received from the team at Sellafield. Updates to version two will include the removal of some superficial welding, moving instead to use of metal folding; and the addition of rubber grips on the underside of the tiles to keep them securely in place. 

As well as the version two updates, the teams at RED and Universal Wolf are working on a 3D version of the same concept, which will allow the decommissioning teams to build structures from the tiles: for example, to cover walls.  

This will make the product even more suitable for its application, and capable of being manufactured at scale. We look forward to seeing the product being used to support the significant decommissioning efforts at Sellafield’s site.