Accounts Vacancies Sellafield – The impact of projects and operations
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP)
There are two nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield that have increased the number of nuclear jobs in cumbria greatly. One deals with Magnox fuel from Britain's early nuclear reactors, like the ones which were used at the Calder Hall power station at Sellafield. The other fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield is the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant or Thorp, as it is known. Thorp deals with fuel from British Advanced Gas Cooled fuel and Light Water Reactor fuel from around the world.
The Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield combines all the facilities necessary for processing this spent uranium oxide fuel under one roof and created hundreds of engineering vacancies in cumbria, both mechanical and electrical engineering jobs were created.
The construction of Thorp was one of the world's most complex civil engineering projects employing up to 5,000 contractors on site, needless to say a massive creation of temporary engineering jobs at sellafield and supporting a further 10,000 jobs in cumbria with suppliers and sub contractors.
Construction started in the 1970s, and was completed in 1994.
Thorp's operations are divided into 3 main areas:
• Fuel Receipt and Storage.
• Head end plant operations where spent fuel is chopped up and dissolved in Nitric Acid.
• Chemical Separation where Uranium, Plutonium and waste products are separated out
Fuel Receipt and Storage
Fuel from the reactors is loaded into specially constructed secure containers called 'flasks'. These flasks are transported to Sellafield either by road, rail or from some overseas customers by sea in purpose built ships. When the used 'spent' fuel arrives at Sellafield it is removed from the flasks and placed into a storage pond (rather like a very large swimming pool). Depending on the type of fuel it can stay in the ponds for up to five years to allow heat levels to decrease to the level where the fuel can be sent for reprocessing this, due the longevity further secures Accountancy jobs in cumbria for many years.
Head end plant
The fuel is transferred from the storage ponds to the Head End Plant shear cave where the fuel is chopped into sections. The fuel drops into a basket in a dissolver vessel where the fuel is dissolved in nitric acid. The fuel cladding remains in the basket, this end of the plant alone counts for many finance vacancies in cumbria each month some being permanent jobs and some being temporary.
Chemical Separation
The dissolved fuel liquor is forwarded to the chemical separation plant within Thorp where the uranium, plutonium and waste are separated from each other using chemical engineering processes. Chemical engineering vacancies are aided by this as the plant looks for specialist skills.
The wastes from this process are sent to the High Level Waste plants for concentration, storage and eventual conversion to glass. The uranium and plutonium can then be recycled and manufactured into new oxide or Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuels. This demonstrates how nuclear jobs in cumbria and wider finance vacancies in cumbria are an international asset and are helping the UK stay at the fore of the nuclear industry whilst ensuring the best standard of practice.
Thorp - The present and the future
Thorp is Britain's only nuclear fuel reprocessing facility and reprocesses spent nuclear fuel rods from power stations in Britain and Japan.
Following a leak of some 83,000 litres of liquid acids containing uranium, plutonium and fission products in April 2005 the future operations of the plant and therefore the prospect of further vacancies at sellafield (THORP) site are under review.
One thing is certain, whatever the outcome, Thorp will continue to have an ongoing need for high level Internal audit and Accountancy jobs long into the future.
If you want to embark on a career in one of these long term projects then register your interest for one of the many job opportunities at Sellafield including:
Accountancy vacancies at Sellafield
and
Accountancy Jobs Sellafield
Alternatively, visit the Accountancy jobs section of Recruitment Cumbria to find out about further vacancies in the area or to upload your CV.
