An area the size of a professional football pitch has been cleared, de-planted and demolished ready for its next use, creating a huge skyline change for the Suffolk coast.

Alan Walker, Sizewell A Site Director, commented:

This is an incredible achievement for NRS, our contract partners Erith, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). 

I would like to thank everyone including those involved and our neighbours for their continued support throughout, as well as the ONR for enabling us to push the boundaries of innovation in conventional demolition together. The learning from this will be applied to other NRS projects to continue delivering efficient, value for money decommissioning and restoration of nuclear sites.

This transformational project demonstrated technical innovation and set a new benchmark for the largest use of explosives on a UK nuclear site and the longest programmed detonation sequence in Europe.  These were used to weaken the four gigantic concrete plinths that two 650 tonne turbogenerators stood on.

The use of explosives reduced the project schedule by four months, costs by £300,000 and minimised vibrations to negligible levels compared to using traditional mechanical percussion removal techniques. Around 40 tonnes of CO2 emissions were also saved by minimising machinery fuel use.

The plinths were reduced to rubble paving the way for full clearance of the turbine hall basement and arrival of the high reach excavators to dismantle the structure. Two 90 tonne safe working load cranes – each weighing 65 tonnes – were removed from their rails onto a landing pad ready for metal recycling.

More than 17,000 tonnes of concrete and rubble have been removed from the turbine hall, fire station and electrical annexe structures – that is more than the weight of the six million bricks used to build Battersea Power Station.  This waste was processed through a mobile crusher to reduce its size to a specification that enables it to be exported and re-used.

A scrap metal contract has raised over £3 million income to date from the sale of the 11,000 tonnes removed during the de-plant and demolition phases. This revenue will be used to offset decommissioning costs.

The project achieved a 95% recovery rate for construction and demolition waste, much higher than recent industrial averages, and further demonstrating the NRS commitment to minimising the environmental impact of decommissioning work and embedding sustainability without compromising on safety and efficiency. 

David Rushton, NDA Programme Manager, said:  

The successful demolition of the turbine hall brings skyline change to the Sizewell A site. The innovative use of explosives provides valuable learning for future decommissioning activities, and the segregation and reuse of demolition material supports the NDA’s sustainability targets.

Andrew Bull, ONR’s Nominated Site Inspector at Sizewell A, added:

We’ve worked very closely with NRS, adopting an enabling stance to allow the licensee to push forward with a modern, and at times, ground-breaking approach to accelerating this major dismantling project.

ONR works hard to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden and add value. This has been no better demonstrated than for the removal of the Sizewell A turbine hall, where we have played a key role in this example of decommissioning the UK’s nuclear estate.

We’ve been pleased to work with NRS in a constructive manner to regulate the ongoing clean-up of this important site – safely, securely and cost effectively.

Watch the project unfold here

The Sizewell A turbine hall story from construction to demolition – YouTube