The facility, called the pile fuel cladding silo, contains cladding materials removed from fuel assemblies used in some of the UK’s earliest reactors at Windscale and Chapelcross.
Under the deal Sir Robert McAlpine will build a concrete superstructure to store removed waste, worth £8m.
Consortium partners Bechtel Babcock Nuclear Services will build modules to handle the waste and pack it into 3×3 metre concrete storage boxes weighing 60t under a £150m contract. Crane specialist Clark Chapman Group as clinched the job to build a Goliath crane under a £3m contract to handle the lifting operation.
Head of PFCS Retrieval Projects Tim Davies said: “Sellafield has let these contracts in order to deliver an accelerated decommissioning programme that we have committed to and agreed with our customer, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
“This is a hugely significant step forward for the programme and represents the start of a new collaborative partnership towards waste retrieval and ultimate hazard reduction. We’re pulling out all the stops to drive forward this project by bringing in specialist contractors.
“Getting this important project off the ground is good news, as the PFCS represents one of the most challenging decommissioning projects and we’re committed to reducing high hazards at Sellafield.”