Engineering news
Sheffield Forgemasters International and NuScale are to work together to develop manufacturing techniques required for the future deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in the UK.
Sheffield Forgemasters will forge a large civil nuclear reactor vessel head by the end of 2017, as part of a programme supported by Innovate UK to develop and validate innovative forging and fabrication solutions for the nuclear industry. NuScale Power is providing funding to support the use of the geometries required by its innovative SMR design.
The factory manufacture of major engineered components is central to realising the job and growth potential of SMRs across the UK and to bringing down costs through advanced manufacture techniques.
Tom Mundy, NuScale Power’s managing director for the UK and Europe, said: “Our vision of seeing the NuScale SMR deployed in, and exported from, the UK can and will only be achieved in partnership with Britain’s renowned engineering and industrial base.
“Sheffield Forgemasters’ skill, expertise and heritage is known the world over. Working together now is I hope the starting point of a lasting relationship that will ultimately see UK-manufactured SMRs generating clean reliable power for the UK grid by the 2020s.”
Graham Honeyman, chief executive of Sheffield Forgemasters, added: “Small Modular Reactors could revolutionise the civil nuclear power industry, by creating more flexible power generation solutions. The efficient factory manufacture of major components will be crucial to seeing them deployed cost-effectively and Sheffield Forgemasters has an unparalleled track record in the production of civil nuclear forgings of this size.
“NuScale’s design is one of the most advanced in the world and this forging project will allow us to prove yet again that UK manufacturing is at the leading edge of global technological advancement.”
NuScale Power will be holding a Supplier Day at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield on 13 July aimed at giving UK-based engineering, manufacturing and construction companies the opportunity to learn about the company’s programme of work.