Heavy lift success with nuclear projects
Staffordshire UK based shipping company Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd is currently at the forefront of the largest energy projects on both sides of the Channel.
The operator has recently completed two high profile deliveries to Sellafield in Cumbria UK and Flamanville in Normandy, France.
The specialist heavy lift barge Terra Marique was loaded with a 498 tonnes module at Ellesmere Port on the Manchester Ship Canal, and offloaded on a beach adjacent to the Sellafield power station as part of the Evaporator D Project, currently the UK’s largest energy construction project.
The module, which is the height of six double decker buses, was the last of 11 modules carried in six separate shipments successfully carried out over the previous two years. The Evaporator D is essentially a giant kettle which is used to reduce the volume of high level liquid waste before it is turned into a glass form and stored. Evaporator D will provide replacement capacity to the site’s existing evaporators, which continue to play a pivotal role in the delivery of nuclear fuel reprocessing contracts and in maximising the reduction of risk to the public and the environment from site operations.
Following successful completion of the offload at Sellafield, the Terra Marique sailed for the French Port of Cherbourg, where it was successfully loaded with the 485 tonnes reactor vessel destined for the Flamanville 3 construction site. The cargo travelled the 60km journey to the Port of Diélette, where the reactor was successfully rolled off ahead of a short road movement to site.
The shipment to Diélette is the first in a series of shipments for the Flamanville 3 project, with four others planned to follow.
Peter Wynn, managing director of Robert Wynn & Sons says: “We have undertaken a number of projects in the nuclear sector over the last few years with the movements of new units to Sellafied and Flamanville and the removal of fifteen 300 tonne boilers as part of the decommissioning of Berkeley Power Station, all of which highlight the versatility of our heavy lift vessel the Terra Marique and demonstrate we are involved with the full life cycle of these major energy projects both in the UK and abroad. ”
