Engineering news
More than 400 companies hoping to become suppliers on the programme to build a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey attended business events organised by developer Horizon Nuclear Power this week.
Horizon, which was acquired by Japanese engineering firm Hitachi last year, is developing two new 2,600MW nuclear power stations in the UK - at Wylfa and at Oldbury, Gloucestershire. The first reactor at Wylfa is expected to be operational between 2020 and 2025, with work starting at Oldbury soon after.
Speaking at a suppliers event in Gloucester, Michael Fallon, business and energy minister, said: “We welcome international investment in our energy infrastructure. This project will provide thousands of jobs for British workers and hundreds of contracts for British businesses from major construction and engineering contracts through to supply-chain and service contracts.”
Hitachi expect that up to 6,000 jobs will be directly supported during construction at each site, with a further 1,000 permanent jobs at each site once operational.
In a bizarre twist of contractual proceedings, earlier this month the Hitachi-owned Horizon awarded reactor supplier Hitachi-GE Nuclear the prime contract on the Wylfa project for its Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technology. As Hitachi-GE is 80% owned by Hitachi, Hitachi effectively awarded itself the contract.
However, Hitachi has promised that up to 60% of the £20 billion of contracts for the two new plants will go to UK suppliers and has signed agreements with Babcock International and Rolls Royce to provide parts for the new reactors at both sites.
Horizon is also already working in a limited way with engineering consultancy Atkins and plant construction firm Jacobs.
In addition, Horizon has invited expressions of interest in a small number of procurement opportunities, mainly for off-site work on the Wylfa project. The company is looking for suppliers in six areas: engineering support; development and planning; site investigation; civil and architectural services; electrical controls and instrumentation; and environment and waste management.
Alan Raymant, Horizon chief operating officer said: “Our projects at Wylfa and Oldbury can provide a much-needed boost to the national economy. We are delighted to be able to lay out our plans and discuss how we can work alongside government and potential suppliers to ensure UK firms are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities our project will create, and to maximise benefits for the UK economy.”
Two to three ABWRs will be built at each Horizon site, beginning with two at Wylfa. These will be the only ABWRs outside Japan. However the ABWR is yet to be approved by the UK’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) programme, which assess the safety of new nuclear reactors. Initial agreements for the GDA were only signed last month.
A public consultation on the Wylfa nuclear plant will begin before the summer of next year and ground could be broken as soon as 2015 at the site. Horizon plans to start construction of the plant on the site in 2018.