Graham Construction has overseen the installation of 76 concrete roof beams at a new radioactive waste store at Dounreay nuclear power station.
The beams were needed to complete the roof structure of the facility, which has a total weight of 3,300 tonnes. They were manufactured in Ireland and shipped to Scrabster harbour on Thurso Bay.
In the first phase of the work, 31 beams weighing between 25 and 45 tonnes each were transported to site by four extendable trailer articulated lorries. They were then lifted into place using the existing onsite 250-tonne crane and a 500-tonne mobile crane.
Local company Hugh Simpson was contracted by Graham to store, transport and install the beams.
Graham is constructing the new waste store, which will hold drums of intermediate level waste in safe long-term storage in accordance with Scottish government policy.
Dounreay is Scotland’s largest nuclear decommissioning project. The work is being delivered by Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Dounreay’s programme delivery director, William Lindsay, said: “It is a logistical challenge to get these roof beams into place, at height, in a congested site, and has required a significant amount of planning to achieve the first of a three-phase installation sequence.”
