Nuclear Engineering
Services has completed a
contract for the installation
of Flask Leak Test Equipment
into the Dounreay Fast
Reactor facility for Dounreay
Site Restoration. The
installation marks the end of
a series of contracts for NES
that has seen the installation
of 19 FLTE units across 13
sites.

Developed in 2004 as a
prototype unit in a joint
venture for EDF (British
Energy at the time of contract
award) and Magnox, the
FLTE is used to confirm that
flasks containing spent
nuclear fuel are fully sealed
prior to transportation to
Sellafield for reprocessing.

The prototype unit, which
incorporated a SCADA
software system, improved
the overall process and time
taken to test the integrity of a
fuel transportation flask. The
original process could take
up to 8h to complete which
NES reduced to less than 4h.

A staged testing process was
introduced whereby five key
stages were developed. In the
case of a leak being detected,
only the failed stages would
be repeated rather than
virtually the full test.