The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Harwell Stakeholder Group told of major scientific advances

17 April 2008

 

Some of the UK’s leading companies involved in science and innovation are based on the Harwell-Chilton Campus and are represented at the local Stakeholder Group meeting.

The March meeting, chaired by Terry Fraser, was held in a lecture theatre at the Health Protection Agency’s building. He welcomed the attendees and said they were in the process of filling gaps on the group by ensuring there was representation from the villages of Harwell and Chilton.

He introduced guest speaker Professor Mike Dunne from HiPER – the High Power Laser Energy Research facility – who are researching the potential of using lasers to create a fusion reaction and harnessing the energy released to generate electricity.

The campus is already home to the world’s most intense laser – at the Vulcan complex and Professor Dunne said the site was also most likely to host the HiPER facility which will be a multi-billion Euro venture.

HiPER received positive reviews from the EC in July 2007 after it completed a preliminary study which outlined the approach and arguments for its full-scale construction. Detailed designs for construction are expected in 2011.

In simplest terms the HiPER principle is that through focussing high intensity lasers on a tiny pellet of fusion fuel, extracted from seawater, the heat generated through the implosion of the atoms could be used as a source for generating electricity. The concept, if successful could be supplying gigawatts of power by the middle of this century. It would also be virtually waste free as it uses only a tiny amount of seawater as fuel.

The top level goals for HiPER are to exploit its potential as a power source and to capitalise on the science.

Alan Neal, the Head of Site for UKAEA at Harwell, told the meeting they had completed 97% of the NDA’s work programme for the year so far and expected to have 99% completed at the end of the financial year. On top of that they expect to deliver the work for eight per cent less than the planned costs and in doing so achieving all of the NDA’s Performance Based Incentives.

His colleague Jon Blackmore reported on the work to deal with groundwater contamination on the site. The new Groundwater Treatment Plant had started operating and will run until 2025. It operates 99% of the time and in 2007 removed 91kg of contaminants – bringing the total since 1994 to 5.7tonnes.

They were using a sophisticated soil vapour extraction system to remove contaminants from the soil. This means that no excavation takes place. The project will continue until 2009 and then the waste pits will be capped. The waste is largely chemical contamination arising from historic use of solvents on the site.

NDA’s Site Programme Manger, Malcolm Barents updated the meeting on the NDA’s review of local arrangements for stakeholder engagement; the appointment of the new Chairman and the NDA’s market engagement inviting interest from parties wishing to use NDA land, the fuel manufacturing business at Springfields and its Uranic material. He updated this by explaining to stakeholders that the NDA did not own any land at Harwell.