In this Section
We are pleased to offer a number of Technical Visits for your interest. Places at these are limited and are offered on a first come basis. The local visits will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday 16th May. Most of the visits are within 90 minutes of the conference centre, but two (Sellafield and the UK Low Level Waste Repository) are at a considerable distance, and are offered either as a one day visit or in conjunction with a pre conference tour of the English Lake District. There are security issues at three of the visits, with passports and advance security clearance being required. For further information and booking go to the IRPA13 website.
Hunterston A Power Station (Decommissioning)
Hunterston A, a twin Magnox reactor site situated on the beautiful North Ayrshire coast and owned by NDA, is half way through its decommissioning programme.
This was Scotland’s first civil nuclear generating station, it operated between 1964 and 1990 and was fully defuelled by 1995.
The primary goal at Hunterston A is to complete the complex decommissioning programme in line with Government policy and NDA strategy in a way that protects people and the environment. The site is managed by Magnox North, a Company owned by Energy Solutions keen to assist the NDA to discharge its primary obligations and providing value for money solutions.
The Hunterston A site prides itself in having a highly skilled, knowledgeable workforce who are committed to completing the work safely and minimising the environmental impact of all decommissioning operations.
On visiting Hunterston A, you can expect to learn about a range of decommissioning projects including retrieval and processing of wastes. A tour of the intermediate level waste store will highlight a robustly constructed facility and the graphite pathfinder project (GPP) team are available to discuss this emerging and exciting feasibility study. This location is approximately 90 minutes from the Conference Centre.
Transport Fee Per Person: £22.00
Hunterston B (AGR) Power Station
The visit to Hunterston B Power Station operated by British Energy (an EDF Company) will provide the delegate with an overview of the main radiological protection issues associated with the operation of Advanced Gas cooled reactors (AGRs). The visit will include a formal presentation and a chance for open discussion with Station Radiological Protection practitioners, and a visit to the plant to witness at first hand, radiological controls and practices in operation.
Transport Fee Per Person: £22.00
Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards (CRCE), Health Protection Agency (Glasgow)
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is dedicated to protecting people’s health in the United Kingdom. Combining public health, scientific expertise and research within one organisation, the Agency protects against threats to health from infections, environmental hazards and emergencies which can include chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.
Visitors will be able to discuss the radiation protection services provided by the six professional Radiation Protection Advisers (RPAs) who carry out advisory work, occupational level safety training, statutory testing of radiation sources and monitoring instruments, and surveys of work with ionising and non-ionising radiation. Their experience covers use of radiation in light and heavy engineering, security, the petrochemical industry (onshore and offshore), universities, and other work places such as vets and dentists. Solar ultraviolet monitoring stations are also maintained across Scotland. Tours will be provided of the Department’s state of the art facilities for testing radiation measuring instruments. Health physics equipment that supports routine and emergency response work will be demonstrated.
Tours will be provided of the radiometric and analytical chemistry laboratories and the Department’s Emergency Operations Centre. Senior staff will discuss their experience from genuine emergency and exercise scenarios.
Transport Fee Per Person: £7.00
HM Naval Base, Clyde
HM Naval Base Clyde, at Faslane, is some 25 miles north west of Glasgow and is home to the United Kingdom’s strategic nuclear deterrent and the headquarters of the Royal Navy in Scotland. The Naval Base primarily comprises of the Naval Base at Faslane itself and the Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD) at nearby Coulport. HM Naval Base Clyde’s key role is to support the Royal Navy in maintaining Continuous At Sea Deterrence. This is achieved by ensuring that at least one Vanguard Class SSBN submarine is on patrol at sea every day of every year. The visit to the Base will include a guided tour of the nuclear accident response facilities, solid waste handling facilities, liquid processing facilities, the submarine berths themselves and the Shiplift. All delegates to Faslane will require to be security screened in advance.
Transport Fee Per Person: £22.00
GSE Systems Power Station Simulation Training Centre at University of Strathclyde (Glasgow)
The home to the only academic, fully flexible GSE Power Station simulator suite designed for training in Europe. This $4 million simulation training and education centre offers a unique facility that provides the basis for research and education in the areas of real-time simulation, power station control and advanced diagnostics. The simulator replicates actual control rooms with instrumentation and controls driven by computer models that replicate a plant’s actual response to normal operating conditions.
Transport Fee Per Person: £5.00
The ALPHA-X laboratory, University of Strathclyde (Glasgow)
This laboratory is furnished with a pair of femtosecond lasers and “target areas” situated in a suite of well equipped, shielded laboratories. This equipment is used to investigate the interaction of intense electromagnetic fields with matter. The main activity of the ALPHA-X project is to develop laser-plasma accelerators and utilise these as drivers of compact radiation sources. One of the lasers is the highest power short-pulse laser system in any UK university laboratory (pulse energy of 1 J, wavelength 800 nm and pulse duration 35 fs) that can deliver 30TW of peak power to the experiments, which makes possible studies at field intensities in excess of 1019 Wcm-2. The visit to the laboratory will entail a tour of the laser facilities and the ALPHA-X beam line area. Laser-plasma accelerators are extremely compact and the entire beam line area covers only an area of 10 m x 3.5 m. With a bit of luck, the accelerator will be operational during the visit so visitors may witness first hand the generation of 100 – 200 MeV electron beams and associated bright X-ray pulses!
Transport Fee Per Person: £5.00
Pre-Congress Technical Visits and Tour
Delegates will be able to attend the Sellafield Nuclear Site or the UK Low Level Waste Repository, Drigg as part of the Technical Visits programme. These visits will take place prior to the congress on Friday 11 May 2012 and can either be attended as a one day visit or as part of a sightseeing tour. All visits will depart from the SECC. Please note all options are detailed below and can be booked via the registration system.
Sellafield Nuclear Site (One Day Visit)
Sellafield has been home to nuclear operations since the early 1950’s, primarily focused on nuclear generation, storage and chemical separation of nuclear fuel. Today the highest priority for the site is accelerating high-hazard and risk reduction of the legacy facilities on the largest and most complex nuclear cleanup site in the world, with 170 major nuclear facilities and 2200 other buildings housing activities that cover the entire nuclear fuel cycle. It is home to some of the most innovative and complex nuclear decommissioning projects in the world. The tour will give an opportunity to see the contrast between the oldest and newest of the operating plants on the site and will also include a coach tour to view the major construction projects.
Transport Fee Per Person: £55.00
UK Low Level Waste Repository, Drigg (One Day Visit)
This visit will allow the participants to view the development of LLW management in the UK since the start of the nuclear programme in the UK. Key aspects are the learning gained through operation and the development of regulation within the nuclear industry and the impact of regulations from other industries both within the UK and across Europe. Through the development of the facility over 50+ years it has been optimised through both necessity and regulation. More recent changes have been developed in collaboration with both local and national stakeholders which has had a dramatic impact on the facility now proposed and the way in which it is managed. Despite the limited and minimal radiological risk from a technical perspective it is nevertheless NUCLEAR waste and is therefore very much in the public eye. As well as touring the operational site, the visit will focus on the development of both the UK national policy for LLW management and the Post Closure Safety Case for the repository.
Transport Fee Per Person: £55.00
Sellafield Nuclear Site or the UK Low Level Waste Repository, Drigg and the English Lake District
This three day tour will combine the technical visits to Sellafield Nuclear Site or the UK Low Level Waste Repository, Drigg with sight seeing in the Lake District, together with a full Accompanying Persons Programme.
Tour Programme
Day One – Thursday 10 May 2012
Delegates and Accompanying Persons will depart Glasgow by coach at either 16.00 hours or 18.00 hours and transfer direct to the Lake District. There will also be the option to join the tour at Penrith Railway Station and transfer to hotels. Dinner and overnight accommodation in the Penrith area.
Day Two – Friday 11 May 2012
All delegates will depart from hotels and transfer to the Sellafield Nuclear Site or the UK Low Level Waste Repository, Drigg to arrive by 09.45 hours for a 10.00 hours start. Delegates will then be collected at approximately 16.00 hours and returned to hotels.
All accompanying persons will depart from hotels to commence a sightseeing tour of the ancient Cathedral City of Durham – land of the Prince Bishops – with it’s magnificent Cathedral which has been described as ‘one of the great architectural experiences of Europe’. It is renowned as a masterpiece of Romanesque (or Norman) architecture. It was begun in 1093 and largely completed within 40 years. Our journey to or from Durham will take us via Hadrian’s Wall. Dinner and overnight accommodation in the Penrith area.
Day Three – Saturday 12 May 2012
All participants will check out and depart from hotels to commence a sightseeing tour of the Lake District to include Ullswater, Kirkstone Pass, Ambleside and Bowness on Windermere. All participants will then depart the Lake District at approximately 15.00 hours to travel to Glasgow, dropping off at Congress Hotels.
| Fee Per Person | Sharing | £450.00 per person |
| Single | £550 per person |
Prices are based on a minimum of 20 paying passengers and are subject to availability.
Price includes:
- 2 nights accommodation in rooms with private facilities
- Full English breakfast
- Table d’hote dinner
- Services of a qualified guide for sightseeing
- Transportation throughout by luxury touring coach
- Services of experienced driver
- Porterage based on one suitcase per person
- Service charges at hotels and all Government taxes
Price does not include:
- Items of a personal nature such as newspapers, room service, telephone calls etc
- Drinks/meals other than those specifically mentioned in the itinerary
- Gratuity to driver/guide
