Amec Foster Wheeler picked for Fukushima study

Japan's Fukushima power station calls on the company's nuclear expertise

UK engineering and project management company Amec Foster Wheeler has been appointed by Japan’s nuclear decommissioning organisation to carry out a major study into managing radioactive waste at the Fukushima Daiichi power station.

The study will assist the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF) in developing a long-term waste management strategy for the power plant, which went into meltdown four years ago following an earthquake and tsunami.

During the study, Amec Foster Wheeler will focus on designing case studies to show how planning tools can be applied to deliver the best practicable environmental option for dealing with the radioactive waste and will run workshops based on these case studies to provide NDF staff with hands-on training.

The study will be carried out by a specialist project team with experience of providing similar services to the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority at Sellafield and to relevant projects in the US and Europe.

Clive White, president of Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business, said: “Our work will make both a significant contribution to the Fukushima remediation programme and will also form the basis for further initiatives to adapt waste management tools to the specific requirements and conditions at Fukushima.

“We will bring to this work our world-class nuclear decommissioning expertise, which includes a thorough understanding of how to deal with radioactive waste so that the health of the public and site workers is protected.”

The Japan project announcement comes at the same time as Amec Foster Wheeler's agreement to lead a new project to set up a high-temperature facility (HTF) for nuclear industry research in the UK.

The facility, which will undertake testing work on materials used in current and future nuclear reactors, will be funded through a £2 million grant from the UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change.