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Cyclife France receives a used steam generator from the French Navy to be treated
Publish on 12/05/2022
Cyclife France has received a used steam generator from the French Navy in Toulon at its CENTRACO site (Centre de Traitement et de Conditionnement des déchets radioactifs) in Codolet, Gard in the South of France. This very large component, about 4 m high and representing more than 40 tonnes of metal waste, is treated by the CENTRACO facility's melting process.
This operation is being carried out under the supervision of the CEA, which is responsible for the recovery of nuclear waste from the nuclear boilers on board nuclear propulsion ships.
© Adeline Justamon
Photo report of the arrival and unloading of the steam generator
About fifteen people were mobilised to receive the contaminated steam generator and unload it in the installation's premises. |  |
| Entrance of the oversized convoy on the CENTRACO site | Convoy parked, ready to unload container |
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| Unloading of the container, handling of the bell by the mobile crane | Steam generator mounted on the mobile electric trolley, mechanised handling and lifting |
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| Steam generator carried by the mobile crane, mechanised handling and lifting | Radiological control of the steam generator |
This large-scale project is entrusted to Cyclife France
Cyclife France stands out for its unique facility in France for the treatment of very-low to medium level short-lived radioactive waste, as well as for its expertise and know-how in providing innovative, global and customised solutions.
As with this large-scale project, for which the Cyclife France teams produced specifications for the manufacture of a customised container and a motorised low-bed trolley, designed by partners.
Treatment of the steam generator of the French Navy
CENTRACO's melting unit, which specialises in the processing of metal, ferrous and non-ferrous scrap in crates.This large component is first cut in a special workshop in a dedicated workshop in the plant and then cut to size for the induction furnace.
The components are melted at 1,600°C in the furnace and reduced by 90% of their volume at the end of the operations. The molten contents are then tipped into a ladle and emptied into ingot moulds.
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Learn more: download the factsheet of Cyclife on the management of contaminated large components.
Cyclife teams contributed to the rail transfer landmark of more than 1,000 stainless steel drums of low-level waste to Repository site
Publish on 06/04/2022
The planning project of the rail transfer from the Winfrith Magnox site to the Low Level Waste Repository site has started five years ago, this project of transfer has involved Nuclear Waste Services, Magnox Ltd., Nuclear Transport Solutions, and sub-contractors.
“Cyclife is pleased to be part of the TRS drums disposal project and congratulates Magnox and Nuclear Waste Services on achieving the important milestone of the first shipment of drums from Winfrith to the Repository site. We have been pleased to be supported by React, Penny Nuclear, Tyson Burridge PDL and Stobbarts on this project.”, commented Joe Robinson, Managing Director of Cyclife UK.
In subsequent phases, Cyclife has led the design, development, methodology and testing of the equipment which will be utilised to emplace the drums into the vaults at the Repository site, and managed the on-site civil enabling works. Cyclife is currently preparing to lead the emplacement work on site later within 2022 using the remote tooling that has been selected, developed and trialled.
Winfrith Magnox site ceased its operation in 1990. More than 1,000 drums of waste originated from the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor at drums were placed in the Treated Radwaste Store (TRS) awaiting transfer to the Harwell Intermediate-Level Waste facility. Due to a period of sufficient radioactive decay, the waste’s radiation levels have been reclassified from intermediate-level to low-level waste, allowing early disposal at the Repository site with significant financial savings to the UK taxpayer.
“The project has significant benefits for Magnox as it allows a legacy waste to be completely removed and disposed early from the Winfrith site without the need for disposal to Geological Disposal Facility as planned. It also utilises difficult-to-access void spaces within the vaults before those vaults are finally capped and closed and therefore safeguards valuable disposal space in Vault 9 at the Repository site and therefore protects a national asset.”, concluded Joe Robinson.
Cyclife UK offers integrated decommissioning and waste management services to the UK civil and defence nuclear markets. One stop solutions such as that seen at Nuclear Waste Services answering the need to preserve disposal capacity.
Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/landmark-day-for-major-drum-disposal-project and https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Rail-transfer-landmark-for-UK-waste-disposal-proje
Cyclife expands its range of digital services for the dismantling of nuclear facilities and acquires Quadrica
Publish on 04/04/2022
Realisation of scenario or design studies, site preparation, visualization of premises that are difficult to access, remote visit and inspection of installations or even training, nuclear operators, throughout the life cycle of their installation, are moving towards increased use of twins and digital tools to improve their level of control and optimize their interventions. The acquisition of Quadrica responds to this demand. Its 3D visualization tools "MySurvey" and virtual reality "Virtual Survey" are already widely used by several manufacturers. The main markets addressed by the start-up also cover sectors other than the nuclear industry and allow it to consider offering these highly innovative services to potential new customers, particularly in the process industries.
In terms of dismantling and nuclear waste management, the acquisition completes the range of digital services already provided by Cyclife through its subsidiary Cyclife Digital Solutions. Cyclife now covers a significant part of the data value chain: the visualization and exploitation of 3D data (MySurvey and Virtual Survey software developed by Quadrica), the production of BIM models (Building Information Modeling) and the digital simulation of intervention scenarios (DEMplus® simulation software developed by Cyclife Digital Solutions).
On April 1, 2022, Quadrica SAS becomes a 100% subsidiary of Cyclife SAS. Liam Perrier is appointed general manager of the company, Bernard Chayla and Francois Xavier-Eeckman continue the Quadrica adventure as director of operations and commercial director.
Liam Perrier recently appointed, explains: "The 3D data processing and visualization solutions developed by Quadrica already been widely acclaimed by the market, complement Cyclife's digital offer which thus enables it to better support its industrial customers in the optimization of its interventions on complex installations.".
Also speaking on the subject, Estelle Desroches CEO of Cyclife said: “We are convinced that the use of digital tools to better understand the environment in which the operations entrusted to us by our clients are carried out is a major asset. The software bricks and services offered by Quadrica are great tools for decision support or site preparation that we will integrate into Cyclife's unique offer to optimize, in a systemic logic, dismantling and waste treatment.".
About Quadrica
The mission of Quadrica, a French publisher created in 2016, is to develop a software suite for the exploitation and visualization (including in virtual reality) of "digital twin" type data such as point clouds, Ultra High Definition photos and 3D models. The objective is to meet emerging operational needs in the field of infrastructure life cycle operations engineering, from their construction, maintenance, to dismantling (Digital Twin, Factory 4.0).
Waste2Glass, a joint company of EDF Cyclife and Veolia Nuclear Solutions, is now operational
Publish on 01/02/2022
The signature of its status took place in Paris La Défense in the presence of Olivier Giraud, Waste2Glass new President and EDF Waste Projects Director, Pascal Evrard, new Managing Director of Waste2Glass, Estelle Desroches, CEO of Cyclife, and François Parot, Head of Continental Europe for Veolia Nuclear Solutions.
During this milestone in the development of Cyclife's nuclear waste treatment activities, Olivier Giraud declared: “Waste2Glass is now ready to study and develop a unique and concrete solution for some specific radioactive waste treatment before final disposal and to promote the GeoMelt® promising solution.”
Pascal Evrard added: “The project team has settled in Limay (Paris suburbs) where the pilot unit of the GeoMelt® vitrification process has been recently put in service. The pilot unit will be aimed to carry out demonstrations and to obtain the necessary qualifications for the industrial deployment of the technology.”
Click here to read the announcement of the creation of Waste2Glass by EDF and Veolia.
Cyclife expands its engineering capabilities in UK with the acquisition of Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd.
Publish on 07/01/2022
A key player in the radioactive waste management field through its subsidiary, Cyclife UK, the EDF subsidiary had already expanded its scope of activities in 2020 to be able to additionally offer consultancy and engineering services in the field of dismantling, enabling it to win its first major contracts, notably for graphite reactors.
In order to pursue its development, Cyclife has chosen to acquire 100% of the shared capital of Aquila Nuclear Engineering from Calder Group. From design to manufacturing and commissioning, the company provides turnkey solutions in the fields of containment, shielded installations, remote handling and transport/packaging. The existing management team and all Aquila employees will continue to operate in its core market areas, but will also work closely with Cyclife UK to provide integrated waste led decommissioning solutions in this growing market.
Dave Barker, CEO, and founder of Aquila said:
“This acquisition is testament to the professionalism of the Aquila team and the reputation the business has gained across our nuclear sectors. We are delighted to be part of Cyclife / EDF and could not have chosen a better parent company to continue our success and growth.”
Estelle Desroches, CEO of EDF Cyclife SAS said:
“This acquisition is fully in line with the strategic ambitions of Cyclife / EDF, and will undoubtedly have a significant and synergistic impact on the development of both companies. It allows Cyclife to broaden its range of skills and strengthen its ability to provide integrated dismantling/waste solutions with high added value.”
EDF and Veolia announce the creation of Waste2Glass: a joint venture to develop innovative radioactive waste treatment solutions
Publish on 30/11/2021
Paris, November 30, 2021, EDF and Veolia have announced the creation of Waste2Glass, a 50/50 joint venture that will develop a new sector based on Veolia's Geomelt® vitrification technology.
The partners are thus renewing their joint commitment to developing innovative solutions for the treatment of complex radioactive waste, two years after creating Graphitech, a joint venture dedicated to the development of solutions for the decommissioning of graphite-gas reactors, which has now become a European leader in this field.
Due to its technical nature and cost, vitrification has until now been reserved for highly radioactive waste. Thanks to the complementary know-how of the two partners, Waste2Glass will be able to take up the challenge of the industrial deployment of the GeoMelt® technology, which will make it possible to broaden and simplify the use of the vitrification process for a wider range of waste types.
Currently, GeoMelt® is an unrivalled technology that has the potential to become a new benchmark solution for the treatment of complex waste, given the advantages it offers over existing technologies:
- A relatively simple industrial deployment;
- A significant reduction in waste volumes after treatment, especially compared to current immobilisation technologies using cementitious techniques;
- Obtaining an extremely durable matrix for conditioning.
This technology has already been used to treat 26,000 tonnes of radioactive and hazardous waste, particularly in the USA.
The creation of the Waste2Glass company is planned for early 2022. It will be based in Limay (Yvelines), near a new pilot unit that will incorporate the GeoMelt® process, recently commissioned by Veolia, in order to carry out demonstrations and obtain the certifications required for the industrial deployment of this process.
Antoine Frérot, Chairman and CEO of Veolia said: "Our business and our Purpose as a world leader of the ecological transformation is to offer innovative technologies and solutions for the management of complex waste such as hazardous and radioactive waste. I am delighted that we have taken this further step in our collaboration with EDF with the creation of Waste2Glass. It will enable a real change of scale through the industrialisation of GeoMelt®, which will make it possible to treat radioactive waste more safely and more economically, with a reduction in storage volumes".
Jean Bernard Lévy, Chairman and CEO of EDF, said : "After Graphitec, the creation of Waste2Glass illustrates not only the quality of the cooperation between our two companies, but also the EDF Group's commitment to the development and industrial application of truly innovative solutions for the treatment of radioactive waste, a key issue for bringing nuclear power into the mainstream of sustainable development and helping to build a carbon-free future."
About EDF
As a major player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated energy company active in all businesses: generation, transmission, distribution, energy trading, energy sales and energy services. EDF group is a world leader in low-carbon energy, having developed a diverse production mix based mainly on nuclear and renewable energy (including hydropower). It is also investing in new technologies to support energy transition. EDF’s raison d’être is to build a net zero energy future with electricity and innovative solutions and services, to help save the planet and drive well-being and economic development. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 37.9 million customers (1), of whom 28.7 million in France (2). It generated consolidated sales of €69.0 billion in 2020. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
(2) Including ÉS (Électricité de Strasbourg).
About Veolia
Veolia group aims to be the benchmark company for ecological transformation. With nearly 179,000 employees worldwide, the Group designs and provides game-changing solutions that are both useful and practical for water, waste and energy management. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and replenish them. In 2020, the Veolia group supplied 95 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with wastewater service, produced nearly 43 million megawatt hours of energy and treated 47 million metric tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (listed on Paris Euronext: VIE) recorded consolidated revenue of €26.010 billion in 2020. www.veolia.comDelphine Servot is appointed Managing Director of Cyclife Sweden AB
Publish on 15/10/2021
Delphine has been working for Cyclife Sweden since September 2019, first as customer project manager then as lead of the customer project managers and member of the management team. In that last position, Delphine was also in charge of tender management, customer sites services and contract management.
Delphine has been with EDF for the last 15 years. After working as external auditor with KPMG, Delphine Servot joined EDF in 2004 as internal auditor. Since 2007, Delphine has mainly worked in engineering and construction projects for EDF from Liquified Natural Gas terminal in North of France to New Nuclear Build projects (France, China, Finland and UK). In her last position prior to Cyclife, Delphine Servot was Project Manager within the Nuclear Fleet Lifespan Extension Program, in charge of engineering and construction projects for environmental compliance and optimization of chemical processes of the 58 French nuclear reactors.
Delphine’s background spans over a large range of roles, from team leader to project manager. Her key drivers, essential to manage the company in a mid-term perspective of strong growth, have always been to continuously learn by exploring new technical areas in combination with change management.
Delphine Servot will be the successor of Ralph Norden. The appointment of Delphine Servot is effective from 11 October 2021.
Cyclife UK continues to commit to employing young people
Publish on 30/09/2021
Since Cyclife opened the facility in Cumbria in 2009, 14 apprentices have been employed and 10 are still with the company. Cyclife UK facility, Metal Recycling Facility (MRF), is designed to support the United Kingdom's strategy on its management of low-level radioactive waste as well as to serve customers across the nuclear decommissioning life cycle. The four apprentices Annabelle Edgar, Edward Kemp, Daniel Hargreaves and Morgan Norcross are employed as Degree Apprentices within various departments of Cyclife: technical, business improvement and consultancy teams.
Tracy O’Pray, HR Manager at Cyclife UK commented: "This is an exciting time for both these young people and the company and we look forward to a great future for them all!"
Cyclife is given them full support with all their training and educational needs over their apprenticeships. The degree apprenticeship will be a duration of five years at the end. All four apprentices will have completed a Bachelor of Science degree in either Project Management* or Nuclear Scientist Waste Management**.
In the picture at the top, the 4 new apprentices at Cyclife UK, from left to right:
Annabelle Edgar – Waste Management working in the technical team at the Cyclife UK facility (Metal Recycling Facility - MRF)
Edward (Teddy) Kemp – Project management working in our Business Improvement team
Daniel Hargreaves – Waste Management working in our Consultancy team
Morgan Norcross - Waste Management working in our technical team at MRF
*The Project Management Degree is completed through the University of Cumbria by the end of the first year this apprentice will also have gained the APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ - IPMA Level D award)
**The Nuclear Scientist Waste Management Degree is completed through National College for Nuclear
Cyclife UK to Support Decommissioning Strategy Development for Legacy Dounreay Fuel Reprocessing Facility
Publish on 06/09/2021
As a strategic partner within the Jacobs-led Decommissioning and Waste Alliance consortium, Cyclife will develop and integrate the underpinning waste management and characterisation plans as the project progresses through Optioneering, Concept and Scheme Design phases. Cyclife will also provide risk management services.
Located within Dounreay’s Fuel Cycle Area, the FRFRP was constructed in 1957 for the purpose of reprocessing fuel from the Dounreay Fast Reactor and latterly the Prototype Fast Reactor. The various active cells within the complex present notable challenges for consideration when determining the appropriate waste-led approaches to decommissioning.
David Howorth, Chief Sales Officer of Cyclife UK, said: “We are pleased to be part of the winning consortium for this key Dounreay opportunity, which further evidences the growing capability that Cyclife UK has within the decommissioning sector, alongside our well-established waste management expertise.”
Photo credit: Dounreay
Guénola Guillon appointed Managing Director of Cyclife France
Publish on 19/05/2021
Guénola Guillon has been appointed Managing Director of Cyclife France, a 100% EDF subsidiary specialising in the treatment of very low to intermediate level short-lived nuclear waste. The company's head office and its main industrial site, CENTRACO, are located in Codolet in the Gard region of France. She is succeeding Eric Villatel, who retired after a forty-year career with the EDF Group.
In her new role as Managing Director of Cyclife France, Guénola Guillon is committed to maintaining the performance of Cyclife France's existing activities and to ensuring the company's growth through the development of projects and new activities, as well as the marketing of new radioactive waste treatment solutions for its customers, with the aim of addressing new markets in France and internationally. This growth ambition displayed by Cyclife France is fully in line with that of the European platform, Cyclife, to be the European leader in the nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management.
During her career, Guénola Guillon has already had the opportunity to work with Cyclife, the EDF subsidiary dedicated to strategic activities in the fields of nuclear decommissioning an radioactive waste management in France and worldwide.
"I am pleased to join Cyclife France. I will enthusiastically continue the work already accomplished by all the teams within the company to achieve our ambition of becoming a leader in the field of radioactive waste treatment. Teamwork, continuous training and openness are the keys to a company's performance, which essentially contribute to the fulfilment of each individual in his or her job".
Guénola is convinced that she has shared her work values with the company's employees. For her, ensuring the well-being of employees is a key factor "Cyclife France's main asset is the values of the women and men who make up the company. Professional fulfilment is not only linked to the activities to be carried out, but also to the quality of the work environment and the human relations. Working in a collaborative and respectful framework that allows everyone to express themselves is an essential part of individual fulfilment and collective performance".
Her background
During her studies, Guénola Guillon took a general engineering course at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. During her professional career, she obtained a Management Master's degree from the IAE in Paris and completed an Executive MBA at INSEAD.
Guénola Guillon has a wide-ranging career path within the EDF Group. When she started, her professional objective was to combine technical and operational aspects in the energy sector. With this in mind, she joined the nuclear world of the EDF Group in 1999, joining the teams of the Technical Operations Unit in the Nuclear Production Division, as a project engineer for national maintenance operations. She continued her career at EDF as Head of Department and then Head of the Boilers and Valves Department at the Chinon nuclear power plant in 2003. She then moved to the nuclear production headquarters in Paris as a management controller, before taking up the position of Deputy Director of Unit Shutdown and Logistics at the Paluel nuclear power plant. In 2018, she seized the opportunity to join EDF Energy in the UK as Head of the Health, Safety and Environment Department.
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