The UK nuclear program started at Sellafield in the 1940s. The site has been the host of the first plutonium production reactors for the weapons program (the Windscale Piles), fuel re-processing facilities for the UK nuclear program, the first nuclear power station to generate electricity (Calder Hall), the prototype Advanced Gas Reactor and numerous facilities for the storage and treatment of nuclear materials. In the early days of the nuclear program, the UK national imperative was defence and decisions were made with little thought given to the long-term solution for the decommissioning, remediation or disposal of wastes generated. One of the Windscale piles suffered a significant nuclear accident in 1957 and the damaged core remains in place. Many of these facilities are now old and do not meet modern standards. The wastes in some of these facilities have not been characterised and can only be accessed remotely. The site is congested and interconnected. All of this makes Sellafield, one of the most complex high hazard facilities in the world. The program to deal with this legacy at Sellafield is projected to take over 100 years. The technologies to deal with some of the problems are not mature. This presentation creates an awareness of;
- An approach to delivering outcomes in extremely complex environment.
- How decision, calendars, assumption and risk can help prioritise research and development and studies in time to specify projects.
- Reference class forecasting as a tool in decision-making for initiating the right project.
- Importance of collaborating with industry during all stages of the project life cycle, including studies and concept design
- The imperative to break complex problems down into simple project scopes. Complexity increases, uncertainty and risk.
