Shielded handling tong — legacy nuclear decommissioning
Bespoke radiation-shielded handling tong with remote actuation for a legacy nuclear decommissioning cell, designed to customer-specific engineering standards.
Client: UK civil nuclear decommissioning programme (confidential)
Challenge
A legacy nuclear decommissioning programme required a handling tong for a specific waste-package geometry inside a radiation-shielded cell. The customer's engineering standards went well beyond BS EN 13155, with additional requirements on material traceability, weld qualifications, and non-destructive examination coverage. Off-the-shelf tongs couldn't meet the package.
Engineering response
Somers Handling worked from the customer's engineering specification to design a bespoke tong with radiation-appropriate materials, remote-actuated jaws via an umbilical, and full traceability on every bolt, weld and casting. NDE coverage was 100% on Class 1 welds; all material certificates traceable to pour. The QA documentation pack exceeded 400 pages at handover.
Outcome
The tong passed its customer witnessed proof-load and functional test on first attempt. It's now in service in the decommissioning cell, handling its design-intent waste-package class. A second variant for an adjacent programme is in detail design.
Nuclear decommissioning work has its own documentation economy. Every weld carries a procedure reference; every piece of structural steel traces to a pour; every fastener carries a certificate. The value of the equipment itself is often a small fraction of the engineering, QA and certification work wrapped around it — and rightly so, because equipment in a radiation cell has to work first time, work reliably, and fail safely.
Somers Handling’s role on this project was to deliver a bespoke handling tong for a specific waste-package class inside a shielded cell. The customer’s engineering specification went beyond BS EN 13155, with additional provisions on material choice, weld qualification, and NDE. The design work was straightforward; the documentation and traceability work took longer than the fabrication.
Outcomes
- Full customer-standard compliance on material and weld traceability.
- Passed customer-witnessed proof-load and functional test on first attempt.
- Now in service. A second variant for an adjacent programme is in design.
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