La Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre colabora con ENSA en el proyecto LIFE Anillo Verde

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Desde la Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre, y dentro del marco del proyecto LIFE Anillo Verde, se ha llevado a cabo la restauración ecológica de una de las parcelas de las instalaciones de la empresa ENSA, cumpliéndose así uno de los objetivos del programa como es la implicación de entidades en la conservación de la naturaleza.

Esta actuación, a su vez, se enmarca dentro del Plan de Transición Ecológica de ENSA, con el que la compañía se compromete a participar en los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) marcados en el horizonte de la Agenda 2030. Entre los ámbitos de actuación de la empresa se incluye el objetivo específico de protección de la biodiversidad.

Precisamente, actuar para preservar la biodiversidad del entono de las instalaciones de la compañía y ayudar a restaurar los ecosistemas es uno de los principios que rigen la política ambiental de ENSA, cuya sede social de la empresa está ubicada en Maliaño, en un entorno de gran valor natural al sur de la Bahía de Santander en el estuario de la Ría del Carmen catalogado como Área Importante para la Conservación de las Aves (IBA), próxima a las Marismas Blancas, reserva ornitológica por SEO/BirdLife.

El proyecto de la Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre en el que ha colaborado ENSA ha sido planteado desde un punto de vista ecológico con el objetivo, por un lado, de mejorar la integración paisajística de la fábrica en su entorno, y por otro, fomentar la biodiversidad así como dar uso y poner en valor el potencial de un área verde de la empresa.

La actuación incluye la instalación de dos jardines ecológicos en los que se han plantado especies aromáticas atractivas para los insectos, con el objetivo final de atraer la presencia de presa para aves insectívoras. Esta colaboración llevada a cabo entre FNyH y ENSA permite tanto mejorar la biodiversidad como contribuir al control y eliminación de la avispa asiática (Vespa velutina). Para reforzar esta medida se ha instalado un hotel de insectos en uno de los jardines ecológicos. Además, de forma complementaria a estas medidas de fomento de la biodiversidad se han colocado dos cajas nido para pájaros y se ha instalado una rocalla en mitad de la parcela, con el objetivo de fomentar la presencia de reptiles y anfibios.

La acción también ha incluido el diseño de un camino que recorre la parcela y permite la observación más cercana de los árboles y arbustos autóctonos plantados, especies que se seleccionaron en base a las condiciones del suelo y a la cercanía de la Ría del Carmen. Finalmente, se ha dotado a la zona con cartelería interpretativa que permite conocer mejor las nuevas especies plantadas así como entender las medidas de conservación y de fomento de la biodiversidad adoptadas en el entorno.

 

Ensa has completed the installation of three heat exchangers of the JHR project

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Maliaño, 22nd January 2020 – Ensa, Equipos Nucleares, S.A., S.M.E., a company located in Maliaño, has wide national and international experience in the manufacturing of large nuclear components, including heat exchangers, developed using different technologies and based on the standards and codes required by companies in the sector.

Ensa, as part of the Spanish contribution to the development and construction of the Jules Horowitz Reactor, is the company responsible for the manufacturing and installation of the primary circuit heat exchangers, which are currently under construction at the centre of the Cadarache nuclear power plant in France. The assembly operation carried out by the Cantabrian company has been completed on schedule. Ensa has completed the installation of the three heat exchangers of the JHR project, whose main objectives are the irradiation of materials and fuels used in current and future nuclear reactors, in order to guarantee the safety and production of radioisotopes for medical purposes.

The work carried out has been approved by the notified body. This procedure was essential in order to be able to start the work on site. The complexity of the process has led to Ensa being congratulated on the success of the complicated operation of introducing the exchangers at their final location, due to space limitations.

 

Ensa has completed the order for two steam generators, shipped for nuclear power plants in France

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Maliaño, 14th January 2020 – On 10 January, Ensa, Equipos Nucleares, S.A., S.M.E., a company located in Maliaño (Cantabria), shipped two new steam generators, 900 Mw from Framatome, to France. These nuclear components, measuring 320 tons, 21 metres in length and 4.5 metres in diameter each, correspond to the model used for replacement in French nuclear power plants.

This shipment completes an order received at the end of 2012 for which the French company Framatome, (owned by Électricité de France (EDF), Mitbsubishi Heay Industries and Assystem), commissioned Ensa to manufacture three steam generators. Following the delivery of the first one in March 2019, shipped to the CNPE Gravelines nuclear power plant in France, owned by EDF (Électricité de France), Ensa has kept the other two nuclear components in storage pending the final decision on the assignment of the plant at which they will be installed.

Due to Ensa’s specialisation in the manufacturing of steam generators for the nuclear industry, a field in which it has already exceeded the figure of more than one hundred units for different countries, the company has become a reference in the sector at international level as a supplier to countries such as the United States, China, South Korea, India, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden and Slovenia, in addition to working for the Spanish plants.

Ensa Group

The Ensa Group of companies is made up of the parent company Equipos Nucleares, S.A, S.M.E., which is 78.75% owned by Sociedad Española de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) and 21.15% by Dirección General de Patrimonio del Estado and its subsidiary Enwesa Operaciones, S.A, S.M.E (ENWESA), which is 82.55% owned by Ensa.

Ensa specialises in the manufacture of components such as reactor vessels, including internals, supports and covers, steam generators, primary cooling circuit piping, pressurisers, heat exchangers, fuel element heads, fuel storage and transport containers and fuel racks.

 

Ensa collaborates with the University of Cantabria and the CSIC in a project on non-destructive ultrasonic testing techniques

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Maliaño, December 17th, 2018 – Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E collaborated with the University of Cantabria and the Higher Council for Scientific Research in a project related to the techniques of non-destructive testing by ultrasound whose objective was that the Cantabrian company improve its training in two new generation techniques Phased Array and TOFD.

The execution of this project is translated in terms of innovation for Ensa, due to the fact that the advanced ultrasound tests can contribute to guarantee the quality of the welds in the welding station itself.

This collaboration has served to launch a new inspection technology project aimed at robotizing tests for the ITER project with which the Cantabrian company and the UC will continue working together.

The project was financed by the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Tourism and Trade of the Government of Cantabria through the European Regional Development Fund .

Ensa participated in the Heavy Fabrication Summit (HFS2018) in Finland

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Maliaño, December 12th, 2018-. Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E participated in the Heavy Manufacturing Summit held at the Pemamek headquarters in Loimaa, Finland whose main objective was to make known the latest welding trends to increase quality, productivity and efficiency in heavy manufacturing.

The event was attended by over a hundred participants from companies around the world who came together to learn about the latest trends in heavy welding , recent innovations in this field and ways to increase production capacity. In addition, there were live demonstrations of six different automated PEMA welding and production solutions. Domingo Lima, head of the Center for Advanced Technology represented the Cantabrian company there.

Ensa develops a mechanized welding machine for circular joints in ITER sectors

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Maliaño, December 5, 2018 – The Automatic unit belonging to the Advanced Technology Centre together with the Welding Development of Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E have developed a mechanized welding machine for the accomplishment of the circular joints of the sector PS1 of ITER .

This machine has the particularity of having a rotary joint that allows continuous welding.

Ensa collaborates again with SANDIA and PNNL (USA ) and BAM (Germany) laboratories

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Maliaño, December 3, 2018 – Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E has reached a new agreement with the American research laboratories of SANDIA and PNNL – with whom already collaborated in a project to measure vibrations during the transport of its ENUN 32P cask in 2017 – by which it will make available to SANDIA the 1/3 scale model of the cask, so that a series of new tests can be carried out in the facilities of the BAM research Centre, in Berlin . Ensa’s technicians will support SANDIA, PNNL and BAM through the tests that will be carried out in this Centre.

The foreseen tests are framed in the verification of the behaviour of the cask and the spent fuel  for compliance with the safety requirements indicated in the Normal Conditions of Transport, which are required in the licensing processes of casks for the Transport mode, according to the current IAEA regulations .

As indicated above, the scale model to be used was built in Ensa for the tests performed under Normal Transport Conditions and Hypothetical Accident Conditions, carried out at the SANDIA facilities , to validate the design of the ENUN 32P cask and the impact limiters of all the casks of the ENUN family, checking the accelerations suffered by the cask, while in this new project the accelerations suffered by the fuel will be checked in greater detail.

Once the tests are completed, all the equipment will return to Ensa while SANDIA and PNNL will be in charge of post-processing and analysing the results obtained. This new collaboration confirms the preparation of Ensa’s technological equipment and its positioning in the research of more advanced products.

Ensa’s new success in ITER robot welding

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Maliaño, November 16, 2018 – Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E continues with success the execution of welds of components destined to the ITER project .

 

The robotic TIG welding system developed in the Advanced Technology Centre by the Automatic Unit with the Welding Development Unit, in collaboration with the personnel of the Production Welding Unit, has made possible to complete the vertical upward welds on both sides of one of the ITER sector components assigned to the Cantabrian company, obtaining magnificent results in the quality and productivity of the process in the 3 welded components.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE COROMA PROJECT hold their general meeting in Ensa

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Maliaño, November 13, 2018 – The European project COROMA, in which Equipos Nucleares S.A., S.M.E participates as an end user, continues and the second anniversary of its beginning is celebrated, two working days were organized in the company’s facilities. The main objective was to expose the most significant advances of this important project whose aim is to develop an autonomous modular robot, easily programmable, safe in its interaction with humans and other machines and able to adapt to changes in its environment.

The first day was of a technical nature and served to share their experiences. In the different presentations details of their developments were shown and the operation of their modules was explained. At the end of the day, all the participants visited Ensa’s workshop and showed their interest in the processes and components it manufactures.

The second day was attended by two experts in charge of evaluating the work carried out. After the presentations of those responsible for each of the work packages and the subsequent analysis, the evaluators showed their good impression of the level reached so far in each of the sections.

In the following months, work will continue on the integration of the different modules, after which, in the last four months of 2019, final tests will begin on the applications proposed by end users.

The COROMA project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 723853.