Preliminary planning consent has been granted to URENCO ChemPlants Ltd – a wholly owned subsidiary of international energy and technology group URENCO – to build a new Tails Management Facility (TMF) at its site at Capenhurst, near Chester, UK, for the treatment and management of depleted uranium hexafluoride.

Nuclear sector design specialist Morgan Professional Services (MPS) has produced the front end design for the new development which will provide a comprehensive management facility for the tails cylinders. These tails contain uranium hexafluoride, which is produced as part of the uranium enrichment process at URENCO’s sites at Capenhurst, Gronau in Germany and Almelo in the Netherlands. The new facility will be only the second site in Europe capable of handling the tails cylinders.

The Facility will be capable of washing and re-certifying empty tails cylinders, to recover uranic and fluoride residues from effluent streams, and to store the resulting uranium oxide plus the maintenance of the whole facility.