6 Alpha Deals with UXO Risk on Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm

6 Alpha Associate is in the process of managing an unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk for the Beatrice Offshore Wind Limited (BOWL), an 84- turbine project located in the Moray Firth.  

The 6 Alpha activity is geared towards issuing a final UXO safety clearance certificate. Upon completion, the work will confirm that the prospective threat to installation activity presented by UXO has been reduced to as low as is reasonably practicable (ALARP), the company explained.

BOWL commissioned 6 Alpha Associates to advise on the best UXO risk mitigation protocol to adopt, in order reduce the risks.

Over the course of its work, 6 Alpha delivered a desktop threat and risk assessment to assess the likely presence of UXO on the project site.

Once the nature of the prospective UXO threat had been identified, 6 Alpha  worked to design a subsea survey in order to detect and to define potential UXO, the company noted.

Working with project partners Fugro and Boskalis, 6 Alpha is now processing raw survey data in order to ensure that only the most likely ferrous anomalies that might be considered as targets of interest are investigated.

Simon Cooke, 6 Alpha’s founder and managing director said: “It is imperative that appropriate and reasonably practicable risk mitigation measures are not only put in place in line with reducing risks ALARP, but also with a strong focus on overall cost reduction for the industry. We aim to ensure that UXO risk management solutions are being implemented as efficiently and as cost effectively as possible, whilst affording project safety.”