27/05/2026
What’s occurring? 👀
If you’ve driven down Burn Lane in Hexham this week, you may have spotted two large, interconnected water tanks positioned outside the RED Technology Centre (RTC).
No — it’s not a new water storage system to cope with the recent heatwave…
This setup is part of our ongoing work to develop a remotely operated tool to level out sand in Bulk Storage Tanks at Sellafield Ltd (see previous post for context 👉 https://lnkd.in/ea955v-Z).
To help us optimise the design, our local engineering analysis partner PDL Group has recently completed a programme of CFD modelling of how the stored sand behaves when agitated.
The equipment you can see is a purpose-built test rig, designed to validate that modelling with real-world physical data. This step is critical — giving us confidence that the final tool will perform as expected when deployed on site.
It’s a great example of agile engineering in action: combining simulation, collaboration, and hands-on testing to reduce risk and improve outcomes.