Emptying the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS) at Sellafield is a complex and challenging task that requires a diverse set of skills and a dedicated team. In 2024/25, we met our target of retrieving enough waste from the silo to fill 18 high-integrity storage boxes. Each of the 18 stainless steel boxes contains approximately three cubic metres of waste which has been carefully retrieved by our teams, one ‘grab’ at a time.
As we celebrate routinely retrieving waste from the 75-year old silo and look forward to safely accelerating the pace of retrievals, we talk to some of the people behind the progress and the skills they need to decommission one of the highest hazard facilities on the Sellafield site.
Operational process development: Creating and refining processes through practice.
Callum, operator:
"I helped create the operational process by practising on equipment down in Chester and up in Rosyth. Retrieving actual waste feels very different from the training. Every grab exposes a new layer and takes you back in time to the early days of running the site."
Apprenticeships and training: Building foundational skills that can transfer to help with other projects.
Joel, electrical and instrumentation craft:
"We're quite a young team. I started as an apprentice in 2018 and came over to the silo in 2022 after working in the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo. The plan is to have a group of younger people familiarising themselves with how the facility works given that it's going to be operating for years to come."
Flexibility: Adapting work schedules to meet operational needs.
Georgia, operator:
"I volunteered to move onto day working to help get us started with retrievals, but we're now ramping up the training of other operators so in time we can move back onto shifts. It feels like we're starting to build more of a routine in the way we get the work done, but no two days have been the same so far."
Integration: Combining new technology with older systems.
Max, control systems engineer:
"I'm part of the Kuka robotic arm specialist team, so also cover the Kuka robot we have in encapsulation as well as the one in silo. It's never monotonous and I like the challenge of solving some of the engineering problems we encounter when we put this new kit next to systems we built decades ago."
Experience: Bringing decades of experience to the job.
Andrew, operator:
"I've worked in the silo for 20 years. I saw the foundations being built for the retrievals building I'm now working in. It's intense work when you're retrieving the waste – you have to be precise and take your time when moving the waste grab as you don't want to damage anything. Working the manipulator arm is a bit of an art, some camera angles mean you move the arm the opposite way of what you're looking at. It's a bit like rubbing your belly while patting your head.”
Our focus now is to safely accelerate the pace of retrievals from the silo.
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