NSG Environmental Ltd is delighted to announce it has secured a place on the Dounreay Decommissioning Services and Works Framework as part of the AECOM E&C UK team.

The framework has a seven-year duration (4+2+1) and an anticipated value in the region of £400m. Opportunities include a number of major projects at the Scottish nuclear licensed site, such as the construction of a size reduction facility, shaft and silo decommissioning, and the demolition of historic active laboratories.

The team, led by AECOM, also includes influential partners Exyte Hargreaves, Kier Infrastructure and Overseas, Morson Projects, NIS Ltd, Squibb Group and Westinghouse Electrical Company UK.

Jim Porter, Managing Director of NSG, commented:

We are absolutely thrilled to secure a place on the framework and look forward to collaborating with our partners to deliver success on one of the most complex nuclear decommissioning projects in Europe.

The project team during trials at NSG’s facility (from left to right): Chris Mould (Sellafield), Karen Allen (Cavendish Nuclear), Stephen Lloyd (Sellafield), Rob Hughes (NSG), Rachael Wills (Sellafield) and Dave Blackburn (NSG)

NSG Environmental Ltd is currently working with Sellafield and Cavendish Nuclear via the Design Services Alliance (DSA) framework to evaluate a technology for Magnox sludge resuspension. The project is part of a programme of work currently being undertaken by Sellafield to retrieve and process sludge stored in the FGMSP SPP1 Bulk Storage Vessels. The primary aim of the project is to test the effectiveness of the Pulsair Tote Stick to resuspend Magnox sludge prior to pumping and subsequent waste processing.

Sellafield recently placed the contract with Progressive through the DSA, which was flowed down to NSG because of their experience, facilities and collaborative approach. The team has mobilised quickly and the early trials are now being carried out at NSG’s R&D facilities in Chorley, Lancashire.

As part of the work, NSG is manufacturing a series of sludges with different formulations and properties to replicate a range of challenging environments that potentially may be faced on Sellafield site. Magnesium hydroxide powders are used to simulate the physical properties of the corroded Magnox sludge, while tungsten powder and tungsten pieces are used to represent the potential for dense metallic debris that may occur within the pond waste stream.

NSG is adding value to the trials through their ability to repeatedly manufacture the range of sludges to a consistent specification. In support of this, they also have equipment to test, sample and analyse sludge samples within their laboratory for rheology and particle size measurement. Cavendish is adding value to the team through their programme management and design input.

Early results are showing promise and, if successful, there is a plan to develop the work further through full-scale testing and potential future inclusion within a larger system on site.

Stephen Lloyd, Process Engineer and Technical Lead for Sellafield, commented:

It is great to see Sellafield, Cavendish and NSG collaborating to quickly evaluate technologies which can potentially add real value to the Legacy Ponds work programme.

NSG Environmental Ltd is proud to announce it is the recent recipient of the RoSPA Sector Award for Research and Development.

The accolade, awarded to NSG for ‘consistent excellence and continuously improving performance’, was presented to the company at the 63^rd annual RoSPA Awards in Birmingham on Thursday 6 June. The award is NSG’s 17^th consecutive RoSPA Award and second Sector Award in four years.

Mark Coles, Director of Projects South and responsible for health and safety at NSG, commented:

I am honoured to accept this award on behalf of the team, whose passion and collaboration made this fantastic achievement possible. We have worked very hard to improve our health and safety performance across all our sites and will continue to challenge ourselves to ensure best practice.

On Thursday 23 May, NSG staff members enjoyed a successful evening at the annual North West Employee Engagement Group (NWEEG) Awards at the Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel and Spa in Clayton-le-Moors, Blackburn.

ESH&Q Advisor Nicola Croft took home the Be Extraordinary Award, awarded to “an individual or team that demonstrates a positive can-do attitude on a consistent basis”, while Commercial Manager Andrew Caulfield was shortlisted for the Most Magnetic Manager Award.

David Walker, ESH&Q Manager at NSG, commented:

A huge congratulations to Nicola on her thoroughly deserved award. I have worked for a number of companies across different sectors throughout my career and have never worked alongside anyone as committed to the company goals, values and expectations as Nicola.

A major milestone has been reached on the LLWR PCM Decommissioning and Demolition project with the transition of a magazine to C2 radiological classification.

Magazine 10 is the first of four remaining magazines scheduled to be fully decommissioned and it is now possible to enter the magazine without any respiratory protection for the first time since the magazines were filled with PCM (plutonium contaminated material) waste over 20 years ago. This marks a major achievement for the project, which NSG has been delivering as part of an integrated team on the site for the last five and a half years. In this time, the facility has been transitioned from C5, the highest contamination-controlled area classification, to C3 and now finally C2, where only a pair of overshoes is required to enter in addition to the standard ‘Site Basics’ clothing.

Gareth Wilson, NSG’s Project Manager at LLWR, commented:

The decommissioning activities undertaken by the project team to achieve this milestone have been vast and included some significant challenges. A number of the tasks have involved closely managing significant risks in terms of conventional safety whilst working in high hazard contamination-controlled areas. The team have worked vigilantly to complete all tasks safely and have delivered all the decommissioning scope without a single lost time accident.

Last week, NSG welcomed A-level student and chemistry enthusiast Dominic Jackson from West Lakes Academy for the Centre for Leadership Performance’s Dream Placement initiative.

During his Placement Week, Dominic spent his first day at NSG’s head office in Chorley, where he interviewed Managing Director Jim Porter and learned about the nuclear industry. For the rest of the week, Dominic was based at the Low Level Waste Repository in West Cumbria and shadowed members of the NSG site team. Whilst there, Dominic attended project meetings; chatted with engineers, project managers and planners to gain an insight into the different office-based roles; supported the project team with data collection and other project tasks; and received a bespoke tour of the site to witness operations.

Lesley Wood, HR Officer and Dream Placement representative for NSG, commented:

It was great to have Dominic with us for the week and we hope he had an enjoyable and educational experience. There are lots of exciting career opportunities available in the nuclear industry and Dream Placement enables students like Dominic to experience them first hand.

Dominic’s Dream Placement will conclude at the Showcase Event at Energus in Workington in late March, where he, Lesley and the rest of the participating students and company representatives will get back together to discuss their Dream Placement experiences.

On Saturday 15 September, the NIS Group of Companies (NSG, NIS and Hold Engineering) proudly supported the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team as it moved into a new £650,000 purpose-built base in West Cumbria.

In recognition of the milestone, both NSG and NIS made significant contributions to the fund, while Hold Engineering designed and built lockers for the team’s new mess room.

Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team, one of the Lake District’s busiest mountain rescue teams, has been assisting people in the western fells of Cumbria for 50 years. The team comprises 40 volunteers/base operators and each year responds to around 100 emergency calls from the police to rescue people who are injured or lost in the local mountains.

The team also assists other organisations when requested and in December 2015 helped to rescue people affected by the severe flooding caused by Storm Desmond in Carlisle.

Since the late 1960s, the team has been based in Gosforth, near Sellafield — most recently in makeshift buildings behind the village’s Kellbank Hotel. Now, after a four-year funding campaign, the new base is located nearby on the opposite side of the A595 on land owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The new facility includes a training tower, a retractable 60ft radio mast and a control room.

NSG Environmental Ltd is delighted to announce it has been shortlisted in two award categories at the Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster (BECBC) Awards 2018.

The company has been shortlisted in the SME Innovation and Creativity category for its use of an innovative combination of Nochar absorbent and cementitious grout for the disposal of radioactive liquids and oils at various sites around the UK. NSG has also been shortlisted in the Collaboration category for the success of its integrated site team approach with LLW Repository Ltd, as well as supply chain partners Nuvia, PC Richardson, Hertel, Orano, KDC and Squibb.

The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 22 November at Energus in Workington, where NSG will join the other shortlisted companies and BECBC members and supporters to celebrate the excellent work delivered by Cumbrian companies over the previous twelve months.

NSG Environmental Ltd is delighted to announce it has been awarded a framework agreement for Design and Engineering Services by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd.

The scope of the framework includes environmental cases and restoration, design and engineering services, construction management, waste strategy documentation and technical support. Under the banner of COSMIC+, NSG will deliver the work in collaboration with Alpha Engineering, ARC, GD Energy Services, MMI Engineering, NIS, North West Projects, Quintessa, TÜV SÜD Nuclear Technologies, Vulcain Engineering and Westlakes Engineering.

Michelle Wise, Director of Consultancy Services at NSG, commented:

As we embark on a new journey with our collaborative partners in the COSMIC+ team we look forward to supporting Dounreay, which is recognised as one of the most complex nuclear decommissioning projects in Europe.