NEWSDESK
JCB wheeled loaders for Kent waste company
Privately-owned waste recycling business Countrystyle
Recycling has further improved on-site handling efficiency
at its facility in Sittingbourne, Kent, with the introduction of
four JCB 457 wheeled loaders.
Rotamec extends into South Wales
with purchase of Pontypool Rewinds
Rotamec Engineering Solutions – a provider
of motor rewinds, gearbox repairs and drive
solutions – has expanded its operation into South
Wales following the acquisition of Pontypool
Rewinds.
The company also operates facilities in
Cheddar, Exeter and Redditch.
Owners of Pontypool Rewinds, Hugh
Williams and Lyn Kenney, will continue to run the
operation as a new branch.
Simon Brooks, managing director of Rotamec,
says: “Hugh and Lyn have built up a very loyal
customer base and we will continue to deliver
the same high-quality service as well as offering
additional services for machining and the
repair of other equipment. We will be investing
in the staff as well as the facilities to expand
the customer base and offer a wider range of
services.”
Customers in South Wales will be able to take
advantage of additional services, including pump
repairs, fan services, gearbox maintenance and a
range of machining facilities. Rotamec’s service
offering runs from in-house CAD design to CNC
machining to enable standard products to be
modified to suit a specific application.
The company offers a stockholding of new
motors, gearboxes and drives, as well as field
service teams to carry out diagnostics as well as
removal and installation of equipment on site.
Sellafield plant
workshop ready
A new workshop is ready to
help service the equipment
that empties Sellafield’s most
hazardous nuclear waste stores.
The Silos Maintenance Facility
will house and maintain the
machinery that will get the waste
out of two of the oldest plants on
the site: the Magnox Swarf Storage
Silo and the Pile Fuel Cladding
Silo.
Sellafield explains that the
Pile Fuel Cladding Silo retrieval
equipment was lifted into place on
top of a modern ‘superstructure’
built on the side of the building in
nine large modules. Waste retrieval
trials are expected to begin later
this year, moving into larger scale
waste removal in 2020.
The Pile Fuel Cladding Silo was
built in the 1950s when the site’s
purpose was to make material
for nuclear weapons. In 2016,
Sellafield reports that six holes
were cut into the side of the silo,
the first breaking of the structure
since it was built. Six giant steel
doors were then installed.
To remove the waste, a crane
grabber will reach through a hole,
scoop up waste, deposit the waste
in a special metal box for storage
in another facility currently being
built.
The £250m project to empty
the plants, which includes the
workshop, has taken nine years
to build. Sellafield, Balfour Beatty
and Cavendish Nuclear, worked
together to deliver, design,
construct, install and test the
facility. The building is a workshop
to maintain powered plant that
contains radioactive waste emptied
from the Magnox Swarf Storage
Silo, over the 25-year programme
to remove that waste. It will also
support equipment used to empty
the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo.
Sulzer enhances rail repair capabilities
Component OEM Sulzer is enhancing its
rail repair capabilities by opening a Rail
Competence Center, which will be located
on the same site as the existing Nottingham
Service Center.
The primary objective of the center is to
support the current and future customer
demands by offering increased production
capacity and enhanced reliability.
Repairs to generators, motors, automatic
voltage regulators and other auxiliary
equipment used in the rail sector are subject
to rigorous quality control and traceability,
which requires considerable organisation
and record maintenance. The new facility will
continue to deliver the repairs demanded
by the industry and the improved process
efficiency will allow capacity to be expanded.
May 2019 www.operationsengineer.org.uk 7
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk