Amec Foster Wheeler win contracts from CERN

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Amec Foster Wheeler win contracts from CERN

Amec Foster Wheeler announced the award of a series of contracts from CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, to carry out radiochemical testing.

The work, which began earlier this year and is ongoing, involves characterisation of waste components taken from high energy accelerators including the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator.

Samples are sent from CERN’s headquarters near Geneva for analysis at Amec Foster Wheeler’s laboratories.

Greg Willetts, Consultancy Director at Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business, said: “CERN is one of the world’s most prestigious science projects and sets very high standards for its suppliers.

“We have received excellent feedback about the quality of our work and have exceeded CERN’s expectations by delivering fully accredited results within five weeks on average, rather than the three months specified in the contracts.

“We aim to build on this developing relationship with CERN and offer a wider range of Amec Foster Wheeler services. This work complements our strategy to support ‘Big Science’ projects with engineering, project management and scientific consultancy, as well as the work we are doing at ITER, the world’s largest nuclear fusion project.”

The LHC, a 17-mile ring of superconducting magnets which steer proton beams travelling at close to the speed of light, has enabled physicists and engineers to understand better how ordinary matter is constituted, for example by confirming the existence of the Higgs boson and discovering a new class of particles known as pentaquarks.

When protons deviate from the beam, they collide with magnets or other machine components and this produces a low level of induced activity in the materials. When some components are removed from the accelerators, radiochemical testing is required to ensure that they can be disposed of in the safest and most cost-effective way.

Amec Foster Wheeler’s radiochemical laboratories are some of the largest in the UK, carrying out independent testing for nuclear operators, research institutes, decommissioning contractors, contaminated land consultants, local authorities, regulators, water companies and defence establishments.

Source and Link: The EPC Engineer

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.