Capula secures contract at Oldbury Power Station

13 Aug 2007

Capula Ltd has been awarded a contract for the De-fuelling Verification Project at the Oldbury Power Station, operated by Magnox Electric Ltd.

Oldbury is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire. It was opened in 1967, with two Magnox reactors producing 435MW of electricity, enough electricity to power a city 1.5 times the size of nearby Bristol.

Oldbury is the penultimate Magnox station to close and is due to cease generating electricity at the end of 2008. Once closed, decommissioning on the site will begin and one of the first projects will be the safe removal of the spent fuel rods from the two reactors. In excess of 50,000 fuel elements will have to be removed from the reactors and Capula has been retained by Magnox Electric Ltd to supply a system that will verify that all the fuel elements located within both reactors have been safely removed.

Work on the project has started and the system will be installed at site ready for final commissioning by May 2008. Commenting on the success Capula Business Development Manager, Phil Cholerton said, “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract, against strong competition. On this type of project a safe pair of hands is critical. I believe a key factor in Magnox Electric's decision to use Capula is our expertise and track record in the nuclear industry; in particular our expertise in critical material tracking systems that forms part of our advanced automation and real-time business intelligence solutions.”

Commenting on the project Stephen Walker of Magnox Electric said, “Capula were awarded the Defuelling Verification contract on the basis of providing the best cost effective solution to meet the regulatory requirements for defuelling the reactors at the Oldbury Site”

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