A new, innovative and safer two-in-one trolley created for transport and decontamination
For the second year, CENTRACO, Cyclife's low and intermediate level waste processing site in France, organised its innovation challenge. All employees were invited to submit innovative projects that improve their daily work life. The categories of the innovation challenge covered safety, radiation protection, environment, quality of life at work and digitalisation. The jury, composed of members of Cyclife France's management, validated the deployment of seven projects. The first prize was awarded to the creation of trolleys adapted to the transport of the incineration furnace's bottom ash screws.
A technical solution that meets the needs of operators and protects them from the risk of "gestures and postures"
Every year, during the technical maintenance shutdown of the incinerator at the CENTRACO site, operations are carried out to evacuate the incinerator's augers. The augers remove the incinerator bottom ash (or residue from the combustion of incinerated waste). Their extraction represents a complex operation with a high "gestures and postures" risk. An innovative solution designed by Cyclife France employees has been put in place to counter this risk: an ergonomic transport and decontamination trolley for the augers. The decontamination of the slag screws requires several transports. The operators must turn the screw over as it is processed using a sling. A slag screw weighs one tonne.
After a study and manufacturing process carried out with two local companies, new adapted trolleys have been created:
- Up to 1.40 m in height (compared to 0.70 m in the previous model);
- Equipped with a rolling bearing to rotate the screw and an indexing system to lock it (previously handled with a sling);
- A single carriage for transporting and rotating the screw (previously two).
To find out more about the incineration processes within Cyclife France, download the factsheet here.