We have provided our drain cleaning, surveying and repairing services to nuclear power stations for many years.
Providing power station teams with the latest technology to get the job done safely, efficiently, and quickly to prevent disruption.
In this article, we’ll be looking closer into how our high-tech equipment such as the Picote Mini Cleaner has been used to help our nuclear and power station clients in their controlled and secure environments.
The Picote Mini Cleaner is a high-speed drain-cleaning machine that is small and flexible enough to unblock p-traps and multiple bends.
The different attachments allow our drainage engineers to adapt the equipment to the job.
The machine is small and powerful enough to clean even the most hard-to-reach areas, including 90-degree angle bends.
Our drainage engineers at the Lanes Preston Depot have worked on the Heysham Power Station in Lancashire to solve their persistent drain blockage problems. The blockages had been adding to the operational burden for the power station's engineering teams.
The stainless steel 75mm-diameter drains were installed when the power station was built in the 1970s. They were encased in concrete which made it difficult to keep clean.
Our drainage engineers made sure that the drains flowed freely. Preventing station workers from resorting to contingency measures and having to transport the wastewater to a radioactive effluent treatment plant.
The task was to clear the drains in one of the two reactor halls at the Heysham power station.
Our operatives had to wear specialist protective clothing and follow strict radiation protection procedures in the radiologically controlled area (RCA) of the Heysham 1 reactor hall.
The drains, designated as ‘active’ because they could be contaminated with nuclear radiation, were cleaned in two stages.
First, a Spartan electro-mechanical cutter was used to break through blockage material. The device has a flexible cable with a rotating steel cutting head on the end for scouring the inside of pipes.
Then, the Picote mini cleaner was used to break up the blockage debris and push it into waste sumps, leaving the pipes clear. The device can be fitted with different rotating heads. In this case, a flail was used.
Over 100 meters of pipework, surface water gullies, and sink outlets were cleaned in the reactor basement area, the gas circulation maintenance facility, and the radiation effluent treatment plant.
Both pipe-cleaning devices were needed to achieve the required results and both devices proved how great they are at cleaning hard-to-reach pipe systems.
At Lanes, we have the equipment and resources needed to clean, clear, and maintain any drain.
Including effluent pipes of any age and size from any industrial sector.
Contact our team today to see how we can provide you with drain services for even the most hard-to-reach areas.