Magnox - Container Loading

Magnox who are the contractor appointed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for safe management of various sites, use the Joloda system during the power station decommissioning process for transporting the high radioactive waste away from the reactor site in filled DCIC containers (ductile cast iron containers). The nuclear waste is transported away to a newly constructed (ISI) Interim Storage Facility on the same site.

A DCIC is also known as a “box of waste” It normally takes 1 day to retrieve waste and load it into a DCIC at the reactor site.

The Joloda system was acquired in 2013 for the start of the transportation stage of the decommissioning process to retrieve packages and store the waste safely & securely. The Joloda system can manually move the 23 ton DCIC container with the use of a manual 1 ton winch guiding it through narrow gaps (25mm) between the power station walls and different levels (500mm).

The system consists of portable re-usable track in which run a set of special heavy duty hydraulically elevated skates that can lift 27 tonnes over a length of 2.3m via a hand pump operation. On elevation the load becomes live and is simply pulled via a manual winch rated @ 1 ton along a special platform that accommodates different floor levels.

Magnox used the system until all 850 waste packages were stored and decommissioning was then complete.

Magnox specified the Joloda equipment not only to move the containers but to minimise the risk of spread of contamination on the site during the decontamination process as no external power is required to use the system except manual effort. The system also functions without compressed air or hydraulic power/electricity.