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James Fisher Nuclear (JFN), a provider of marine and engineering services, has added another SeaBotix vLBV to their equipment fleet.

JFN has been using a vLBV, with key components coated in a specialized (Cerakote) protective layer, to withstand high pH conditions within the FGMSP (First Generation Magnox Storage Pond) at the Sellafield nuclear site in North West England.

JFN Business Development Manager, Simon Pyne, said that they chose SeaBotix vLBVs because of their weight and overall physical size, the lifting capability, the industry reputation of the vLBV, the state of the art technology and the vectored thruster design. ROVs have been deployed in the FGMSP as a tool for visual inspection. JFN was appointed to continue the development of this capability in the nuclear environment and extend the scope of operations beyond visual surveys. The plan being to supplement the initial general visual inspection program with dose mapping, sludge and liquor sampling, oxygen measurements in liquor and sludge, as well as a visual inspection of the skips iJFnside the pond.

According to JFN, Sellafield Ltd’s FGMSP has realized risk reduction benefits, such as:

- The ROV program supplied high quality characterization data faster and in greater quantities than alternative techniques;

- The cost of deploying the ROVs is considerably cheaper than the benchmark methodologies;

- In some cases, the ROVs are able to achieve tasks which previously did not have any available benchmark methodology, removing the cost of developing a technique;

- Work has been completed ahead of schedule.

“SeaBotix is extremely proud to be associated with James Fisher Nuclear and this challenging program,” Alasdair Murrie, SeaBotix VP of Sales, commented. “This truly was a joint effort between our engineering design/production teams and the client to ensure we developed and delivered the full solution package. SeaBotix already has a track record in the nuclear sector but this project further underlines our commitment and capability of delivering quality, customized or standard technical solutions, whatever the industry or mission.”