Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND) has awarded NOK123 million ($13.6m) over a 12-year contract to international consortium, ICCircle, for the design, development, and maintenance of a bespoke integrated software system to support nuclear decommissioning and waste management.
NND, an agency under the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, is responsible for decommissioning the research reactors and other related nuclear infrastructure in Norway. NND is also responsible for the safe handling, storage and disposal of nuclear waste.
This contract marks a significant advancement for NND, moving from the planning to the implementation phase of their data-driven nuclear decommissioning process for the Halden and Kjeller sites. The multi-year project will result in an information and data management system designed to provide the insight and oversight NND needs to ensure safety and efficiency during their nuclear decommissioning and waste management process of key sites, which will run over at least 20 years.
Pål Mikkelsen, director of NND said: “NND has undertaken the strategic planning process for decommissioning and during this phase it was clear that data and information governance would be vital to successfully achieving our project goals. We need a system designed to solve the unique challenges at our sites and fit our exact decommissioning and waste management processes. The ICCircle consortium presented not only a well-designed system with a proven track record that gives a holistic support for our processes, but also the collective technical skills and industry expertise to adapt and inform our solution as we go through the implementation phase.”
ICCircle is an international alliance of three specialist firms: Ingecid, Createc and Catenda, established as a legal entity in Norway.
Ingecid, based in Spain, is a specialised engineering company which focuses on Nuclear Engineering, Software Development, Design and BIM, Project and Process Management and Structural Engineering.
UK-based Createc is a technical consultancy and Research and Development business with expertise in applied Computer Vision, Robotics, Nuclear Measurement and Optics.
Catenda is a Norwegian company building a modern lifecycle based common data environment to make the AECO industry data driven for sustainability
Javier Alonso, spokesperson for ICCircle said the contract is the start of a long-standing partnership with NND. “We immediately identified with NND’s ambitions to put data and information management at the heart of their new nuclear decommissioning and waste management process. Together, ICCircle’s three organisations have extensive experience in the nuclear industry, BIM, and the development of software systems. We feel it’s an honour to be part of such a cutting-edge project where our innovative solutions can be applied to improve both safety and efficiency.”
NND will begin its implementation phase at Halden and Kjeller sites from March 2022. Norway’s two research reactors – the nuclear fuel and materials testing reactor at Halden and the JEEP-II neutron scattering facility at Kjeller – were declared permanently shut down in June 2018 and April 2019, respectively.
Although the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) is currently responsible as the licensee and owner of the nuclear facilities, IFE and NND work closely together to handle the clean-up after the nuclear activities. The Norwegian state plans to transfer IFE’s nuclear facilities and associated staff to NND, with a target date of 1 January 2024. NND will at the same time become the licensee for the facilities.
Photo: The JEEP II research reactor at Kjeller (Credit: IFE)
