Capula’s Instematic controllers were the preferred plant controllers at Sellafield’s SIXEP and Fuel Handling Plants in the early ‘80s

October 2012Issue 03

30yearsof control&support forSellafieldControl & IT remain as important as ever for Capula at Sellafield

Capula is celebrating 30 years of working at Sellafieldto provide control system solutions and IT expertise.

Ever since our Instematic systemwas identified bythe site operators BNFL as the preferred plant controllerfor the Site Ion Exchange Effluent Plant (SIXEP) in theearly eighties, Capula has enjoyed an excellentworking relationship with the Sellafield site.

The relationship has seen Capula move fromproduct manufacturer to independent systemsintegrator, with our engineering expertise in controlsystems and project delivery being key reasons for ourincreasing involvement throughout the nineties onmany projects on the site in Cumbria, as well as atother nuclear sites at Capenhurst, Magnox and beyond.Capula’s understanding of control and IT has seen usprovide further value to clients throughout the energyand utilities markets.

WestlakesIn 2000, we opened our Nuclear Centre of

Excellence at the Westlakes Science & TechnologyPark in Whitehaven, which has allowed us to serviceSellafield’s control and IT requirements via a dedicatedsupport team at a local base.

While continuing to support installed systems onsite, Capula designed and developed a VirtualInfrastructure to migrate a number of the Windscalephysical application servers onto the Sellafield domainnetwork using virtualisation technology.

It enables Sellafield to better manage and utilisehardware resources required to host the physicalservers, while also providing themwith a managementplatform from which to efficiently administer andmonitor each virtual server and their hosting platform.

More recently Capula secured a contract for theprovision of both application support and developmentexpertise at Sellafield, now run by NuclearManagement Partners and operated by Sellafield Ltd,which will see our work on the Sellafield site continueinto its 30th year.

“Capula has a fine track record of deliveringeffective control and IT solutions in the nuclearindustry,” said Alex Moore, Nuclear Services Directorfor Capula, “Sellafield, under its different guises overthe past 30 years, has been a key client for Capula aswe’ve developed as a company. We’re proud of thislandmark as it underlines our ongoing commitment tonuclear as part of the UK’s energy strategy.”

inside Staff numbers on increase • Paintball teambuilding • Cockermouth festival sponsorship

www.capulanuclear.co.ukwww.capula.co.uk

positivenergyT H E Q U A R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R F R O M C A P U L A N U C L E A R

SevernTrentWaterselects Capula asStrategic ICAFramework partnerWe are delighted to announce that, following anextensive OJEU procurement process, Capula hasbeen appointed by Severn Trent Water as theirexclusive Strategic ICA Framework Partner withimmediate effect.

The term of the Framework will be to the end ofAMP 6 (March 2020) and will include provision ofmajor programmes of work such as large motorcontrol centre (MCC) replacements, a majorTelemetry upgrade programme, on-going supportfor complex solutions and specialist advice indeveloping an integrated ICA strategy to helpSevern Trent Water deliver its business objectives.

Capula are currently assisting Severn TrentWater in defining its PR14 submission to OFWATfor ICA funding and will continue to providestrategic advice, planning, preparation and trainingfor standards and other delivery enablers leadinginto AMP 6.

“This is an exciting opportunity to work inpartnership with one of the largest watercompanies in the UK and together with theiroverall supply chain,” says Simon Coombs,Business Development Director. “We are pleased tohave been selected for this strategic position basedon our specialist automation and real-time IT skills,and extensive water industry experience.”

It’s been an exciting time for Capula over the pastcouple of years with the size of the business doublingsince 2009. In line with the notable successes in newcontracts won, we’ve been recruiting steadily toincrease our delivery resource across all sectors of ourbusiness.

The addition of more than 70 permanent staff in2012 has swelled our numbers, with a significantpercentage working on nuclear-related projects,joining us in positions ranging from graduate rolesthrough to senior engineering and projectmanagement.

This growth is expected to increase on the back ofthe recent acquisition of Capula by Imtech TechnicalServices, paving the way for some very excitingopportunities both in the UK and overseas markets.

Capula’s graduate recruitment programmecontinues to bear fruit - recruitment fairs at severaluniversities (Staffordshire, Manchester Metropolitan,The University of Manchester, Loughborough, SheffieldHallam and Birmingham) raising our profile amongengineering students in particular.

“The combination of youth and experience is awinning formula borne out by regular endorsementsfrom our clients,” says Chief Executive Roger Turner,“They underline that when they’re awarding uscontracts, they’re not only choosing Capula’ssolutions, but they’re choosing our people and ourability to deliver what we say we will, in line with theirexpectations.”

Capula continues to recruit hardware and softwareengineers and project management professionals - visitwww.capula.co.uk/careers for more information. Weare always interested in hearing from skilledindividuals so if you don’t find an advertised vacancyto suit your profile but would like to notify us of youravailability, please do get in contact with us.

Staff counton the rise

new fuel waste processing safety systems health monitoring radiological surveillance materials trackin

Paintballing fun for Capula teamsStaff from our Staffordshire and Cumbria offices traded their desks for weaponry this Summer as they geared

up for a day’s paintballing. Supported by the Capula Employee Association (CEA), which partly subsidised

the events, the events saw teams pitted against each other in a range of different games and challenges.

“It was a lot a fun,” said John Finch, a Systems Engineer at our Stone headquarters, “The arena was quite

small so once the whistle went, it was absolute carnage - it was chaos!”

Isaac Smith, another Systems Engineer from Stone echoed John’s sentiments: “I really enjoyed it - the

variety of games was great, although it was a bit crazy at some points and I’m pretty bruised now!”

The CEA was set up to serve the social and work-related welfare of its members. It is a voluntary body

which directly organises social activities for its members and also gives assistance to anymembers who wish

to organise particular activities for Association members.

Lending support to coffeemorningCapula was pleased to support the MacMillan Cancer Support’s ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ eventin September. Some 51,000 people signed up to coffee morning in 2011, raising over £10 million.

Having supported a coffee morning organised at Westlakes Science & Technology Park forseveral years, this year we provided raffle prizes as part of our commitment to local fundraisinginitiatives. Furthermore, our Stone office held a raffle alongside its own coffee morning event.

Capula was also pleased to support Sellafield Ltd’s HALES Ryder Cup in their fundraising efforts forGreat North Air Ambulance. The event, held in September at Whitehaven Golf Club, raised more than£4,500 for this worthy cause.

coffee.macmillan.org.uk www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk

Sponsorship of Cockermouth BeerFestival for a third yearCapula will be supporting Cockermouth Beer Festivalthis year in what will be our third as a sponsor.Organised by Round Table, the event showcasesover 60 beers along with ciders and lagers from localand national breweries. All proceeds go towardslocal charities and community initiatives, with over£8,000 raised in 2011.

“At Capula, we continually seek to make apositive contribution to our local communitiesthrough a variety of activities,” said MarketingManager Steve Braund, “Round Table does excellentwork all over the country and further afield. Throughsupporting the festival, Capula is helping to make adifference in Cumbria.

Dominic Heaton, one of the organisers of theevent and member of the Cockermouth branch of

Round Table, said: “this amount of fundraising for asmall organisation like ourselves requires dedication,commitment and a lot of hard work, but this all thiswould be fruitless without the support of localorganisations and businesses like Capula. WithCapula’s involvement and generosity we are able toorganise and provide a range of events such as theSanta’s grotto and float, to senior citizens trips, inaddition to making a wide range of donations whichmakes a real difference to local organisations andindividuals.”

Cockermouth Beer Festival will be held in theKirkgate Centre, Cockermouth from Thursday 29thNovember to Saturday 1st December.

www.cockermouthbeerfestival.co.uk

Roger Turner

ng life extension power generation defence EC&I design and manufacture IT solutions support services

DECOMMISSIONING STARTS ON ITALIAN REACTOR

Decommissioning of the nuclear island of the Trino Vercellese nuclear power plant in Italy is

now under way. The work is expected to take twelve years to complete at a total cost of

�234 million.

Trino Vercellese - comprising a single 270 MWe pressurized water reactor - was Italy's

first commercial nuclear power plant. Its construction began in 1961 and the plant started

generating electricity in 1964. As a result of a referendum held in 1987 in the wake of the

Chernobyl accident, Italy decided to shut down its four nuclear power plants. Trino was

subsequently permanently shut down in 1990.

WA GOVERNMENT SAYS YES TO WILUNA

Western Australia is a step closer to opening its first uranium mine with the announcement

of the state government's final environmental approval of Toro Energy's proposed Wiluna

mine. The project is now awaiting a final go-ahead from the Australian federal government.

WA environment minister Bill Marmion's final approval of the mine includes new

conditions to protect local fauna living within groundwater systems and groundwater-

dependent vegetation, especially the local Tecticomia plant species. The approval includes

strengthened conditions on surface water flows, dust management and rehabilitiation.

UNIT 1 CONTAINMENT VESSEL INVESTIGATED

An investigation is underway into the internal conditions of the primary containment vessel

(PCV) of the reactor at unit 1 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Tokyo

Electric Power Company (Tepco) said that the water level in the vessel has been found to be

higher than previously estimated.

News from around theNuclear industry source: www.world-nuclear-news.org

CAPULA UPGRADES CONTROL INTERFACE AT DRAX

Capula has delivered a control interface at Drax Power Station

to ensure the continued safe movement of trains on site and

supply of fuel to the facility.

Drax Power Station is the largest, cleanest and most

efficient coal-fired power station in the UK. It has six 660MW

generating units producing around 4000MW of electricity,

which represents 7% of the UK's total requirements.

Capula’s task was to replace an obsolete SCADA system

with a modern SCADA solution, building it into the Materials

Handling control system we had recently installed and

interfacing with the Solid State Interlocking rail system already

in place. The process involved reverse engineering the

previously written bespoke code and thorough offline testing

via a simulator. In addition, we replicated existing screen

visualisations to ensure a seamless changeover for the

system operators.

“As a long term control and operational IT systems

partner to Drax, Capula’s intimate knowledge from previous

key projects made us an obvious choice to deliver this

solution” said Chief Executive Roger Turner.

George Eccleston, Senior C&I Engineer at Drax, said

“Capula’s efforts have openly demonstrated their on-going

work qualities, which are contributing towards the success of

Drax.”

LOW CARBON LONDON PROJECT FOR UKPN

UK Power Networks has engaged Capula’s expertise in the

configuration and deployment of an OSIsoft PI historian and

analysis tools as part of the Low Carbon London project.

The project is a Low Carbon Networks Fund (LCNF) Tier

2 programme which is carrying out a range of smart grid

trials in London and is led by UKPN in partnership with a

number of other organisations including EDF Energy, Logica,

Siemens and Imperial College London.

Low Carbon London will be deploying a range of IT and

SCADA facilities to support these trials and manage the data

collected, with the core data store being a 150,000 tag PI

System from OSIsoft. Capula is providing high level

consultancy related to the OSIsoft PI System database and

associated tools, and will develop a customised database to

store anonymous data relating to the customers involved.

BLACKBURN MEADOWS BOILER ISLAND CONTROL

Capula has successfully won a contract with ANDRITZ

Energy & Environment GmbH to provide the control solution

for the Boiler Island at E.ON’s Blackburn Meadows Biomass

Renewable Energy Plant near Sheffield.

The 30MW (electrical output) renewable energy plant will

produce enough power for around 40,000 homes by

converting recycled waste wood into electricity. It will also

displace the emissions of around 80,000 tonnes of carbon

dioxide every year by burning carbon neutral fuel.

Capula’s solution involves multi-disciplines and will see

us implement a DCS system for controlling the entire plant, a

safety system, low voltage switchgear and variable speed

drives, standby diesel generator and UPS systems. In

addition, Capula will be responsible for electrical cable design

for all related cabling, lighting and small power design.

NATIONAL GRID GIVES CAPULA FULL MARKS ON PDSA

For the fourth year running, Capula has been awarded 100%

against a range of key performance indicators (KPI) on our

Post Delivery Support Agreement with National Grid. We

provide cost effective service level support to National Grid,

optimised against cost for our entire substation Control &

Monitoring Systems across over 100 sites in the UK.

This is the fourth year of the current PDSA contract based

on NICAP-equivalent Bay Solutions (National Integrated

Control and Protection) existing on the National Grid network.

Rachel Green, Assistant Contract Manager for National

Grid, commented that “this had been another very good

review period and are pleased with the performance and

good working relationship that exists between the two

companies. National Grid has great confidence that their

assets are safe in stewardship of Capula under this PDSA.”

For further news,

visit www.capula.co.ukWhat else is happening at Capula?

What was the last film you saw?

The Woman in Black – very scary!

What are your pets called?

I have a black cat called Millie and also three

rabbits, but technically they’re my sister’s.

Who was the last band you saw live?

I saw JLS earlier this year – do they count?

Where do you go to relax?

A day out with friends to the cinema or

something is always nice.

What reading material do you go for when

you get a few minutes?

I usually go for a nice girly book – although I

would end up reading for more than just a

few minutes.

What’s the first thing you would do if you

were Prime Minister?

Appoint someone else to be Prime Minister -

I’d rather not!

What’s your biggest claim to fame?

I had my picture in the Stone Gazette once.

What has been the scariest thing to

happen to you in your life?

Going on Oblivion at Alton Towers for the first

time. I was terrified.

Are you a good dancer?

Maybe after a few drinks, yes.

What do you miss most about being a kid?

My sister and I playing TY Beanie Babies – it

was like a cuddly toy soap opera.

What was your favourite TV show as a

child?

Probably anything that was on Nickelodeon.

Some favourites were Sabrina the Teenage

Witch, Sister Sister and occasionally Kenan

& Kel.

Who was your celebrity crush when you

were younger?

I used to love the boy band Blue –

especially Lee Ryan.

Best advice you’ve ever been given?

“Always be yourself”.

What are you like at the dentists?

Even though I have never had to

have anything done at the

dentists I still get

nervous. I’d hate to

have to have an

injection!

Next issue -

Rob Tackley

Getting to know you...This issue:Rachel Cotton, Junior ProjectAdministrator based in Stone

positivenergy is published byCapula Nuclear.

If you have any stories orinformation you feel should beincluded in a future issue ofpositivenergy, or have anycomments to make about thenewsletter, then contact:

Steve Braund (01785) 827106steve.braund@capula.co.uk

Capula Nuclear • Beacon House • Stone Business Park • Stone • Staffordshire • ST15 0NN • T: 01785 827000 • W: www.capulanuclear.co.uk

NEW APPOINTMENTS We continue topush forward with our recruitment ofSQEP staff for the nuclear industry,and we are delighted to announceseveral new additions to Capula whowill be working on Nuclear projects:Sandie Doran is a recent MechanicalEngineering graduate and joins Capulafrom Loughborough University as aGraduate Assistant Project Manager.Chris Surplice has moved across fromProjects to take up a role as BusinessDevelopment Engineer dedicated toNuclear projects.Russell Peake brings a wealth ofexperience to his new role as ProjectControls Manager.Jason Roper joins Capula as anexperienced Site Manager.Visit www.capulanuclear.co.uk to ourcurrent vacancies.

GRADUATE RECRUITMENT FAIR ATLOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY Capulawill be present at the forthcomingGraduate Recruitment and PlacementFair at Loughborough University onTuesday 23 October. Miles Kitchener(HR Manager), Jaime Clinton, SandieDoran and Steve Braund will on handto answer any questions.

NIA WORKING GROUP Phil Monks(Business Development Manager)attended the recent Decommissioningand Radwaste Working Group at ColegMenai, Anglesey. “It was an excellentopportunity to network and discussfuture projects,” said Phil, “TheseNuclear projects offer opportunities tospecialist companies such as Capulato work with other Companies andworking groups like these offer anextremely useful platform for thesediscussions to take place.”

INBRIEF CAPTION

The winning suggestion for last issue’s competition, featuring the above photograph of TV celebrity

Pete Waterman and Capula’s Steve Braund, came from John Midgley, a SCADA Engineer at our head office in Stone:

“Well Steve, I just shoot this imaginary starting gun like this and the graduates race to get their jobs, truly amazing”

Rachel Cotton

Allimages

&content©

CapulaLim

ited2012

unlessotherw

isestated.

Nottobe

reproducedwithoutw

rittenconsent.

Capula places safety at the forefront of

everything we do - particularly when

we’re working on site.

Can you come up with a caption

for the adjacent photo, featuring

several of our delivery personnel?

E-mail your suggestions through

to positivenergy@capula.co.uk and

the winning entrant will have their

caption printed in the next issue.

Closing date for entries:

Friday 30 November 2012

ccoommppeettiittiioonn!!

L-R: Roy Ellis, Mark Brough,

Mark Wingate-Marsh,

Robert Powell